


Salt-Logged

by Asterrious



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Junkfish, Just a hint of Boombox, Mer AU, Mer!Roadhog - Freeform, Pirate!Junkrat, Roasted for 24 hours at the lowest possible heat setting slow burn, Slow Burn, Veeeeeery slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-10-09 12:43:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10412382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asterrious/pseuds/Asterrious
Summary: After being thrown overboard for stealing, Jamie finds himself in a whole new kind of trouble. His only way out is striking a deal with a mysterious creature, a deal which will send them scrambling to the ends of the earth in search of riches.





	1. Twice Drowned, Once Shy

**Author's Note:**

> This is my take on the Mer AU~ Gonna be a long fic so buckle up for this one guys. Mature warning is for gore in future chapters. Thanks to snernard on tumblr for BETA-ing.

He could only see shapes, shadowy and thick in the water around him. It was biting cold, the kind of cold that sapped your body heat away in seconds and then rushed for the kill. The kind that gripped your lungs and forced the air from them as you gasped at the burning, freezing water. The chain and weight strapped to his leg was dragging him down, deeper into the ocean and away from the ship, away from the place he’d called home for the last five years.

Jamie wanted to bid the place good riddance, but his body was crying out for air, screaming as he was forced to open his mouth. All that rushed in was the bitter taste of salt water and death. His ears had been ringing with the crew’s jeers and chants, their insistence that he pay the price for stealing, the gleam in the captain’s eyes as he ordered a board of wood set out over the side of the ship. 

Just cause he deserved to be here, inhaling lungful’s of water and feeling his mind go fuzzy, doesn’t mean he had to like it. No one had ever told Jamison Fawkes when enough was enough, and the only thing he regretted was that he hadn’t gotten away with his theft. He’d have been filthy rich.

His eyes closed before he could register a new, different shadow. This one rose from below him, huge and menacing, silent as it cut through the water and cold. The young pirate was twisted up into huge arms.

When he came to, there were different kinds of shadows all around him. Faces, blurry and unfamiliar, hovered over his head. Voices murmured around him, forcedly low as if they were afraid to wake him up. Something was pushing down hard on his chest, insistent, painful. He shuddered.

The young man rolled away from the hands, stomach heaving as he retched up seawater. It felt like gallons of the stuff poured from his body, as if his lungs and kidneys had decided to make their escape too. Jamie coughed and sputtered through it all, collapsing forward onto his elbows when he was done so that he could stop his head from spinning. Whatever discussion had been going on ceased when he raised watery eyes to the world around him, blinking the salt away.

Walls made of rock formed a ceiling above him, craggy and imposing. A bonfire in the middle of the sand cast the only light in the cave, throwing huge shadows onto the walls and into the water. A few feet from his nose, tiny waves lapped against the little island he lay on. Jamie forced himself up on his elbows to look around the little cave he’d found himself in, confused as to how he’d gone from drowning and cursing his fate to lying on a little sand bar with a bunch of strangers watching him.

There was an old woman on her hands and knees who seemed to be the one who’d breathed life back into him and forced the water from his lungs. She was dressed in clothes layered in sand and salt and her hair was plastered to her head, pinned down in place by a scarf that seemed the only thing clean about her. Underneath one of her eyes she had a strange, looping tattoo and he stared at it for a moment before moving on, deciding he had better things to do than wonder which pirate captain this grandma had sailed under.

Across the little sandbar, a muscular man with dark skin and a face full of scars was standing, staring at him. He was wearing the uniform of the royal military- Jamie felt his stomach lurch again when he spied the polished cuffs and black boots that signaled an officer. But when he squinted at the guy, the clothes were stained and water-logged, the man looking like he’d been rolled around in the sand a few times. He was probably stuck here too, same as the rest of them.

The last occupant of the sandbar was the biggest woman he’d ever seen in his life. She was leaning against the back of the cave wall, watching the proceedings with a wan smile. One hand waved at him when she caught him staring, unintentionally showing off bulging muscles that flexed and strained at her ruined shirt. She seemed strangely relaxed despite the unusual scene, her incredibly bright pink hair free of dirt and debris.

“What the fuck?” Jamie wheezed out, when he felt as though the staring had gone far enough. None of them moved. A bonfire roared in the middle of the sandbar, throwing the shadows onto the cave wall. The old woman gestured for him to come closer to it and he obliged, glad for the warmth to beat back the chill his soaked clothing spread through his bones. The only other thing around was a barrel, round and fat, stuck into the sand as though it had been there forever and the sandbar grew around it. He glanced at it curiously as he took a seat in front of the fire and chaffing his hands against his arms to try and warm up faster.

The other two people, the pink-haired woman and the man with the scars, both moved around the fire to join them.

“Where the fuck am I?” He asked, suspicious of strangers grouping around him. His body was beyond exhausted but he forced his muscles to curl anyway, ready to spring away from the group should they try anything. Where he would go was another question entirely, but Jamie wasn’t known for thinking ahead.

“Cave sweet cave,” The soldier said sarcastically at his side, looking into the fire rather than at Jamie. He supposed he must have made a poor sight- over six feet tall and scrawny, a beanpole, with clothes that hung off of him like oversized bags. His peg leg was held on with leather straps and a prayer, the best he could afford to get. There’d been a bag of gunpowder at his side, a pistol and a rapier, before he’d been caught stealing from the captain. Now there were just empty belt loops that begged for a rope or something else to help keep his pants from falling.

“Whose cave? What the fuck we doing here?”

Across from him, the old woman passed over a wooden mug that he didn’t remember her holding. Jamie sniffed the contents suspiciously but drank deep, pleasantly surprised at the taste of fresh water on his tongue to chase the salt away. 

“This is the cave of a merman.” She said while he gulped down the rest of the drink, casting her eyes on the pool of dark water that lapped around three sides of the sandbar. 

The pirate snorted and her eyes flashed to him.

“Yes, it does sound funny, doesn’t it?” A little bit of mirth rang in her voice. 

“We were all shipwrecked, the same as you I presume. The creature saved us and brought us to his home.”

A crack came from the officer and Jamie looked to see the pieces of a seashell falling from his clenched fist.

“Saved is perhaps the wrong word, Ana.” His voice sounded like gravel and tar; like the words were stuck in his throat and he had to force them out.

“Mermen don’t exist,” the young pirate stated with confidence, looking back and forth between the two. Surely this had to be some kind of joke- he’d heard stories and legends about the creatures that roamed the sea, but that was all that they were. Stories that people told themselves to explain the inexplicable wildness of the ocean. Kid’s fairy tales about pretty ladies who swam around singing songs to the waves and knitting the lace foam that crashed against the beaches.

“Sure.” The other man said instantly, sounding for all the world like he fully agreed with Jamie despite the smirk on his face as he spoke. A huge arm reached across the fire and clapped the pirate on the back and he inhaled some of the water in the cup through his nose, feeling himself lurch forward. The pink haired woman laughed and said something in a language that he didn’t speak, reclining against the sand as though it were the softest of beds.

Ana sighed at them and Jamie caught a glimpse of a milky white eye peering out from behind her hair, the curtain just enough to conceal it from view until she moved too much.

He gaped at them all for a second.

“Listen guys, this sure is funny and shit, but I don’t wanna hang around in some cave, waiting to die of hypothermia. Dunno how you even got a bonfire started but I sure as hell ain’t sticking around. Point me to the exit and I’ll say thank you for the good ol’ kiss o’ life and be on my merry way.  
The soldier gestured at the dark water surrounding them, sweeping his arm out in a gesture that said: “Go right ahead.”

Jamie stuck out his chest, never one to back down from a challenge. He was already soaking wet anyway and so he turned on his heel, sticking his tongue out at the people gathered around behind him, and marched down the bank and into the water.

Cursing when it was just as cold as he remembered it being, the pirate had to pause for a second to try and allow himself to get used to it. The icy grip around his lungs was back, forcing the air from his throat no matter how hard he tried to keep it in. He could only hope that whatever tunnel or entrance he’d find underwater was close enough that he didn’t need that much air to get to it. His peg leg weighed him down in the water, meaning it would be that much harder to get up to the surface when he did finally emerge.

Already starting to regret his show of false bravado, Jamie sucked in as deep as he could and dove underneath the surf.

His eyes stung as he forced them open underwater, hoping to catch a glimpse of a way out. The bonfire was far from the edge of the water and it provided precious little light, so that he could only see the deeper black color of the darker water. Blinking a few times to try and convince his eyes to remain open, he angled himself down and kicked a few times, choosing a patch of blackness to head for. If he was wrong, he could always pop back up to the surface and try again.

After a few seconds of swimming, he felt his fingers brush against solid rock. He could no longer see in front of him but he felt around for a moment, the slope of the stone in front of him revealing itself in time. From what little of the bottom that he could feel, the pool of water was shaped like a basin, with huge sloped sides and a flat, sandy bottom. 

Lungs beginning to scream, the pirate gave up his search after a moment, resolving to head back to the surface, rub the salt out of his eyes, and pick a different patch of darkness to try. He turned and kicked off the wall behind him, reaching his fingers out. But instead of the open water above him, Jamie’s hands and then quickly his head, hit stone. Colors burst behind his tightly closed eyes, flashing red and green as he reeled back from the blow. That direction should have been the way up- he’d thought he was still facing the wall that he’d found, the sandy floor. 

Somehow he must have gotten turned around, between feeling the wall up and trying to see how far in each direction it went. The pirate panicked and kicked out, forcing his eyes open underwater yet again to try and get his bearings. It was pitch black this deep- not even the shadows of the bonfire could be seen from here, playing on the surface of the water and rolling with the ripples.

Deep in his mind, he mused on what would be the second drowning he’d endured in the past day, and how he’d brought both of them upon himself by being a complete cunt. None of the fucks on the sandbar would be jumping in after him, given that he’d known them for less than five minutes and had spent most of that time laughing at them.

Indistinctly, he thought he saw something move in the corner of his eye, a minute change in the inky blackness. Jamie’s lungs gave out on him as he turned and a mouthful of bubbles floated away, replaced by rushes of cool water that irritated his already inflamed airways. It hurt more this time, the replacement of his body heat with that icy chill. He’d drifted onto the bottom again- at least, he thought it was the bottom- but he had no energy to kick off it and squirm to the surface. 

Underneath his hands, grasping for anything he could use to save himself, the young pirate felt something hollow and cold, with sharp edges and ridges in a shape he recognized even within his addled mind.

Something hard and unyielding wrapped itself around his body and instinctively he held onto the skull in his hands as he was towed to the surface by a large shadow. It felt familiar, somehow.

The sand was gritty beneath his cold, aching skin. Jamie gasped and found himself retching up water for the second time that day as a huge hand, much bigger than Ana’s, pressed itself down on his chest to force the water from his lungs. He coughed and clung to it, shaking underneath the thing’s grip. The fingers were curled around his torso, pushing down until all he was coughing up was bits of sand and bile as his stomach and mind churned. The skin underneath his hands was the same temperature as the water, cold and harsh and unyielding.

It lifted after a moment and there were new hands, ones that lifted him up into muscular arms and carried him more fully onto the sandbar. His eyes were red and hazy with salt but the sight of pink hair let him know that it was the muscular woman dragging his half-dead body closer to the bonfire. Her eyes were locked on something behind him, on the shadow that had tugged him from the water’s grip. Jamie’s vision wasn’t clear but he peered over one bicep, mind sluggish but curious.

There was a monster lying there, half-beached on the edge of the sandbar. Propped up on it’s hands, a ghoulish face stared straight back at him, the grinning smile of a shark with long, silver hair tumbling over it’s shoulders. Jamie felt his eyes widen at the sight, any indications of a human face lost within the dark shadows of a dead’s shark skin that had been stitched into the shape of a mask. From the depths, all he could see were two eyes reflecting the light of the fire, watching as he was set down again close to the warmth.

Ana and the soldier sat on the far side of the fire, with the flames flickering in between them and the creature.   
When he’d ceased coughing, it turned to slip back into the depths of pool. 

“Stay out of the water.” A deep voice boomed, echoing off the walls of the cave. Jamie trembled but it was impossible to tell whether it was from the cold or from the malice that dripped from each word. Strict and harsh. Like he was a dog, caught doing something he shouldn’t have been.

It moved, leaning forward. A huge, silvery fin rose from a broad, scarred brown back, the edges of it torn and tattered, teeth marks evident. The human skin tone faded into the same gray color around the waist, patches of slippery, slimy skin littered with their own array of scars and marks. He watched it pour itself down into the water with surprising grace, the fin vanishing last from the surface.

The others in the cave seemed to breathe a collective sigh when it was out of sight, letting their eyes, focused on the predator in front of them, wander to the shivering blonde lying in front of the fire. The soldier whistled at the sight of him, no doubt admiring the purple colors of the bruise already forming around his temple.

“Holy fuck, that’s a merman. You guys saw that, right?” He rasped eventually, when the waves it had made were long gone. Maybe the knock on his head had made him hallucinate- it was easier to think that than accept that he’d just seen a man with fins, wearing a dead shark’s skin like it was a fashion accessory. Every part of his body hurt and it was all he could do to roll over on his side and stare at the other occupants of the cave. “Why didn’t ya tell me there was a merman down there?”

“We tried.”

Ana rose from her seat and walked over to him, bending down to inspect the wound.

“You’re lucky you didn’t get cut. You’d have been a goner. But I’ve seen worse lumps, you’ll be fine.”

He waved away her concerned hands after a minute, sitting up so he could rip off his soaking wet sandy shirt. Keeping the cold clothing on seemed detrimental to his health. 

“Yer tellin’ me that mermaids are real, an’ one a them saved my ass and dragged me to his underwater cavern where he brings all the random fucks he finds in the ocean? Are we his pets now, or something’? He expect us to roll over on command and wag our tails when he comes home?”

To his credit, Jamie was only babbling a little. His brain, already overloaded by the events of the day, didn’t seem to want to process the fact that he’d just seen an actual creature from myth. The others looked at him strangely.

“We’re his food stock.” The soldier stated bluntly, and Ana smacked his arm. 

“We’re not all he eats.” She said, as if that statement made the previous one any better. “We don’t think so, anyway. He only comes occasionally. He must have been nearby when you jumped in and came back to keep you from getting out.”

Jamie looked at them and then down at the skull still tightly clutched in his grip, inspecting the spidery cracks that ran across its surface. Whatever had hit this thing had to have been pretty big. And pretty strong. 

Made sense for the floor of the pool to be covered in bones- he probably preferred the meat. Probably liked it alive, which explained the bonfire, the sandbar, and the cask of fresh water standing on the sand. 

They were livestock.

That was more than he wanted to think about and his hands started moving, trying to find something else to occupy his time with. Fingers stroked up and down the smooth surface of the skull like it was a blanket, dancing around the ridges.

Judging by the shark’s behavior, he liked to eat live prey. He could have easily just let Jamie drown in the pool and then devoured him once he was dead, but he’d brought him back to the surface and forced him to keep breathing. Had to make sure his herd stayed stocked.

Ana brought him another cup of water and he sipped at it blandly, staring wide-eyed at each of them in turn. He wasn’t sure how he should be taking this news- everything seemed surreal and distant. The bonfire wasn’t helping much, the dark shapes dancing around him only serving to add another layer of unreality to the situation. Suddenly and fervently, he wished he’d never risked that trip into his captain’s cabin. Sure, he’d found a map, sure he could get himself to the biggest fucking pay day any pirate had ever gotten. But that wasn’t much help here, in the lair of a monster, waiting for the creature to get peckish for some human.

“Don’t freak out, kid.” The other man said, just as Jamie’s breathing had started to speed up.

“You got a couple weeks, at least. Ana and I have been here the longest, it’ll probably be one of us next.” He said the words in a matter-of-fact tone, like he’d already accepted his inevitable death. The pirate supposed that he probably had.

“Gabriel and I were shipwrecked in a storm.” The older woman said, settling down on the sand next to him. “He was supposed to be escorting me to the gallows, to face punishment for my life of crime, but instead we’ve found ourselves with a different sentence.”

Despite the situation, there was amusement in her voice and she shot a grin over Gabriel, sitting against the cave wall. He snorted at the statement, shrugging.

“I was just doing my job. Thought some of the shit you pulled was funny.”

“Some of the shit we pulled, you mean. Don’t act like you’ve had no part in anything.”

Jamie frowned and looked back and forth between the two of them, correctly ascertaining that they had a history but not really in any shape to being to puzzle out what it might have been. At least he didn’t have to worry about being in the presence of a soldier for a long time- it wasn’t like the guy could arrest him and take him to justice if they were all stuck down here. He didn’t seem like the type to bother doing so anyway.

“M’Jamie.” He mumbled, shoving himself upright. There was water underneath the connection mechanism of his leg and he hesitated a moment before he began unstrapping it. The pirate felt vulnerable without his leg on, but there wasn’t really a point in being wary around these people. They weren’t the real threat.

“Stole from my captain, got thrown off my ship.” Jamie waggled his eyebrows, trying to distract them as he set his leg aside and began to massage the stump. 

The pink-haired woman smiled at him again, her grin strangely sunny in the dark depths of the cave.

“Zarya! Happy to meet you.”

He squinted at her. Her accent was new to him, but that wasn’t really a surprise. There weren’t that many opportunities to meet new people when you were stuck on a ship for months at a time, and the nights he spent in port were whirlwinds of pretty boys and beer, making up for lost time. It was the slightly peppy attitude that was throwing him off-track. For a brief moment, he had to wonder if she fully understood where she was.

Now that he was semi-warm again, all he wanted to do was go to sleep. Since Gabe had said he probably had weeks before the merman decided he wanted a Jamie-buffet, he could probably afford to take a nap for a little while. The pirate had no intention of sticking around in this cave long enough to be eaten. He’d off himself before he let that creature chew him up and digest him. 

Gabe and Ana were gesturing for him to lean closer to the fire though, and the blonde forced his eyes wide-open again after a moment, grumbling as he moved in closer to hear what they had to say.

“We have a plan to get out.”

Maybe not so resigned to their fates as he’d thought, then.

Fishing a small vial out of her bag, Ana held it out for his inspection. Inside, a colorless liquid floated, bubbles collecting all throughout. Jamie squinted and nodded his head in understanding despite the fact that he had no idea what he was looking at. She stowed it safely away before they continued. Zarya seemed uninterested in the conversation, her focus fixed upon the rippling water. He figured that she was the lookout, in case the merman came back for a snack.

“This is a sleeping agent of my own design. It managed to survive the wreck without getting diluted or broken. The next time the creature comes back, we’ll be ready. Zarya is reasonably confident she can hold it still long enough for me to inject it with this.”

Looking out of the corner of his eye, he had to admit that the pink-haired woman could probably break him in half over her knee if she so chose to. That probably wasn’t saying much though- he’d never gotten enough to eat in his life and so, despite having shot up like a weed when he hit puberty, he probably would be a beanpole forever.

“While it’s asleep, we’re going to pull it onto land and let it suffocate.” Gabriel stated. “Easier than trying to sneak around while it’s asleep and much easier than trying to kill it ourselves.”

Jamie nodded. The skin on his back was prickling as they talked about this, and he risked a glance over his shoulder. There was nothing there, as he’d expected, but the feeling of being watched continued. 

It was probably just his paranoia. 

“When it’s dead, we’ll try and find the way out. We know it brings people in through a tunnel or something, we just have to find it and hope we can swim the length.”

“That’s kinda a shitty end to the plan, no offense.” Jamie scratched at his scalp, knowing that despite his words, he didn’t really have an alternate ending. He’d only been here for an hour at most- they knew the creature better than he did, at this point. 

Taking another sip of the water, he stretched his neck out and felt a few cracks. 

“Got anything better, kid?” 

“Nah, just letting ya know I think it sucks.”

Zarya laughed at that, a sound that reverberated through the cave just as the creature’s voice had done earlier. 

“Get some sleep if you want!” She reached out a muscular hand and patted his shoulder. The motion tipped him over and into the sand again, making her laugh once more. “It probably won’t be back for a few days. Plenty of time to regain your strength!”

Lying on his side did feel nice. Jamie nodded at them, grinding sand into his hair, and gave them all a quick wave before he picked himself up and crawled over, closer to the wall. It was colder out here, but the farther away from the edge of the water he was, the better he would sleep. 

He was fairly certain that something was going to wrong with the plan. They all probably knew it too. As nice as they were, he had no doubt that they’d throw him under the bus to save their own skins, if they had to. He was the new guy, and they’d been here for weeks.

Before he let himself go to sleep, he started to run through possible scenarios in his mind, forming his own plan. 

Mermaids loved treasure, right?


	2. Deal Struck

Jamie was going to lose his mind soon, if the shark didn’t come back and eat someone already. He found himself praying to whatever god heard a pirate’s prayers, wishing for a glimpse of sharp teeth and claws. Something to break the endless monotony of sleeping, warming himself by the fire, and occasionally speaking with the other occupants. Trying to count the grains of sand had failed, and taking inventory of his freckles and moles had only distracted him for what felt like a minute. Maybe less.

Used to the hustle of a busy ship and roar of cannon fire, the silence was deafening. His restlessness was beginning to wear on the others too. It wasn’t hard to see Gabriel roll his eyes every time Rat got to his feet, muttering about shifting sand, and stumbled his way across the little island to build himself a new nest. Over the fire, several little fish were roasting on sticks. The pool must have had a direct outlet to the ocean, because the pond was teeming with sea life that darted in and out of the shallow pool of light.

He’d found one way to be useful, at least- he could descale and clean a fish in about a minute, if he rushed and didn’t care too much about where the knife was going. It was a pleasant realization, that they wouldn’t starve in this little cave, even if he would give his good leg for a bit of salt or other seasoning for the fish. Admittedly, it hadn’t occurred to him to ask where they were getting food from, even though they said they’d been here for weeks.

Maybe, with the giant cask of fresh water that the merman had obviously set out, he’d been expecting him to lug in a breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal. Fatten up his pigs before harvesting and all that.

The only way to keep track of time was with the rise and fall of the tide. There was a line in the sand of their island, clearly marking where the water swelled at high tide. Watching the waves roll in and out was the only activity to be found in the place, other than catching a few fish to delay the inevitable. He saw Ana fussing with the seaweed at one point, weaving multiple strands together until she had something resembling a bandage. Probably one of those just-in-case type things.

The few times Jamie actually managed to drift off to sleep, he dreamed of huge, leathery hands and sharp teeth that tore his stomach apart. There were bruises spanning the whole length of his torso from the monster pushing on him, each of the creature’s fingers visible on his pale skin. He poked at the wounds from time to time, reveling in the ache of his ribs. What he wouldn’t give to be as big as the merman was. Crush everything underfoot.

That was the plan though, wasn’t it? Convince the merman that he was worth more alive than dead. Get the thing to help him find the treasure, before anyone else could. Jamie would get himself a huge fucking bodyguard, one that no one would ever dare mess with, and enough riches to last several lifetimes. The possibility that the merman would just eat him didn’t even cross his mind, enamored as he was with the idea of gold bangles on his wrists and a crown set among blonde locks. They’d all hail him as a fucking king, if only for fear of being devoured by the huge, loyal fish he kept in his palace.

There was more than one way to catch a fish, as they said!

Well, probably said. Someone, probably. Once.

They were cooking up a new batch of fish, runty things that had darted too close to the surface for their own good, when the water stirred. It was high tide, the edge of the surf looming threateningly around their bonfire. It had never gone out, never actually been touched by the water’s icy fingers, but he had an irrational fear of the water rising just a little farther one day. Taking their only source of light out and plunging them into a darkness so deep, they’d never see death coming.

Everyone in the cave immediately straightened, taking a few, instinctive steps backwards when the monster’s fin appeared to cut through the surface of the water. A foul stench filled the cave, speaking of rot and decay that made him curl his nose in disgust. Now that he wasn’t trying to relearn how to breathe, Rat had the opportunity to admire the monster a little while longer. 

He was as big as he remembered, his human half rising probably six feet out of the water. His belly was huge and the brown skin was covered in intricate, swirling images of loops and whorls. Jamie squinted at them, unable to parse the image of the mythic merman with what looked like tattoos covering every inch of his exposed skin. Today the long silver hair was tied back and the shark’s mask was on full display.

Rows of cruel, jagged teeth covered most of the face, the jaws of the shark long broken and forced into an unsettling grin. It’s eyes were missing from the sockets, and instead there were rows of stitches that lined the skin, holding the entire mask in place. 

For a moment, Jamie had the absurd image of the merman sitting and stitching at his mask, sipping from a teacup as he worked to get his needlework just right. He fought the urge to laugh in the completely silent room, muffled giggles slipped out from clenched lips. Ana quickly shot him a look.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something silver go racing past, and felt the rush of air against his skin. There was a snapping sound, and he heard a grunt, before the silver was joined by a flash of pink. A fishing hook, far larger than any he’d ever seen before, had wrapped around Zarya’s body, the point embedding itself in her upper arm. A length of rusted chain was attached, which ever so slowly began to tow her towards the water’s edge and the merman’s waiting claws. A convenient way to get a ready-to-serve meal.

The woman fought every inch, digging her heels into the sand and struggling back towards the bonfire. With every tug, another cry of pain fell from her lips as the flesh was ripped and torn. A spray of blood caught Jamie’s cheek from the gash on her arm, where the sharp edge was pulling insistently with every tug. Muscle shredded beneath the foreign object, throbbing and pink. 

Somehow the two reached a standstill on the sand, Zarya holding her ground just out of reach and the creature struggling at the water’s edge to pull her the last little bit towards him. The pirate felt a sense of awe settle over him as he watched her wrestle at the hook, attempting to twist of it’s embrace while playing the world’s deadliest game of tug of war.

When the sand had been dyed bright red, he was the merman shift and drag itself partially on the sand. Those eyes in the back of the shark mask were once again reflecting the light of the fire, and he could see pupils that took up almost the whole surface. The scent of blood must have been too tempting for it to wait, for it scrambled as much out of the water as it was able to, grabbing for Zarya. One huge hand closed around her wounded bicep and she screamed in pain as he pulled her to him, already shifting back to slide into the pool and bring his prey with him. 

Jamie’s attention was caught by movement, again in the corner of his eye, again shiny silver. The solider was edging his way around the sandbar slowly, sneaking up on the creature’s other side as Zarya wrestled for freedom. He suddenly felt a surge of fear in his gut, for his soon-to-be partner. Maybe this would actually work. Maybe the shark would suffocate on the sandbar and he’d lose the best chance he’d ever have to be rich. 

But if he acted to help the merman, they others would know he was plotting against them. 

Nah, not plotting against them. More like banking on the fact that they’d wind up dead.

They’d know, and they would leave him behind on this sandbar, to catch fish and slowly drink the rest of the fresh water, until he died alone and starving. 

Gabriel pounced in one fluid movement, arms locking around the creature’s head. He tugged backwards, pulling him away from Zarya, and the merman bellowed in surprise at the intrusion, shaking like a dog to try and throw the man off. Taking the opportunity, the muscular woman ran forward, ripping the hook out of her own arm so she could stab the tip deep into the shark’s belly. It roared again, angry. Ana stepped up cautiously behind Gabriel, needle ready in her hand. Jamie hoped the creature’s wild flailing would knock it from her hands, the serum lost to the depths of the pool.

In the most bizarre hug he’d ever witnessed, Zarya stepped forward to clasp her arms around the creature’s middle, muscles straining to hold it still as it thrashed and writhed. It was clear she wouldn’t be able to hold it for long- her arms were trembling with the effort and she was already pale with blood loss, the upper mass of her arm a bloody pulp of stringy muscle and bone. The pirate was surprised she could manage to use the limb at all.

Ana slid the needle home in the shark’s neck, in a gap that the stitched-together mask hadn’t managed to cover entirely. It stiffened at the feeling and suddenly slumped in the human’s hold, massive dead weight that threatened to crush Zarya and topple Gabe. Knowing he’d be expected to help, Jamie scrambled forward to help the pink-haired woman away from the body, his peg leg slipping in the mixture of blood and sand the ground had become. 

Things went from loud to quiet extremely quickly and he was left reeling in the return of the silence as all the humans stared at each other, unsure of what to do now that their grand plan had actually succeeded. Jamie was almost disappointed in how easy the shark had gone down, but he supposed that was that. He was stuck with these yahoos until further notice.

The old woman rushed over to Zarya and began to press on her wound, head searching for the seaweed she’d been messing with earlier. Gabe pulled his shirt over his head and swirled it around in the water before she found it. Hopefully that would be better for the wound than whatever sand and dirt clung to him. She stuffed it directly into the gash and the Russian screamed as salt passed into her open shoulder, face going red from the effort of staying conscious. 

Jamie bit his lip, watching the spectacle unfold, before he turned back to the creature. He should probably start pulling it up further on the sand, just to eliminate any chance of it waking up and wiggling back into the pool.

To his great horror, it was moving. For such a large thing, the merman moved surprisingly quickly and it reached out to snag Zarya’s ankle before anyone could react. With a vicious tug, she was pulled down the sand and towards it’s open mouth. Unseen jaws closed around her midsection and the woman screamed again, struggling as she was pulled into the surf by huge hands. Jamie could swear he almost heard the thing laughing as it submerged, bringing it’s meal and hook with it. 

Ana gaped at her hands, covered in Zarya’s blood and formerly pressed against warm flesh. Now there was only empty air and a trail in the sand that told a tale of horror. Gabriel was spellbound, watching the ripples that spread across the water, and the foreboding dark color that began to float into the pool of light. 

“Holy fuck,” The pirate gasped, suddenly jumping away from the water’s edge as one of the waves reached his foot. “Holy fuck, holy fuck.” 

He realized he was shaking like a leaf from head to toe, swaying back and forth as though at any moment his legs would give out. It had gone wrong, as he knew it would, but not exactly in the way he’d hoped. Ana and Gabriel were still alive, giving each other the same dumbstruck look he was sure graved his own face. Who knew when the creature would come back again, after they’d stabbed it. The sleeping potion had done fuck all on it- it played dead for a joke, a way to get a bit of an easier meal.

Maybe it would decide they weren’t worth the trouble and leave them here to rot. 

“What are we gonna do?” Jamie asked, not really meaning for the other two to hear. He backed up until his back was against the wall of the cave, fingers feeling for the stability of the rough surface. The merman had to come back, had to listen to him. It was his only way out of this godforsaken cave, his only chance.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Gabe was opening his mouth to speak when the hook flashed out of the water once again. In the middle of his sentence, he was simply gone, pulled into the water with a huge splash. Unable to fight as Zarya had. It was difficult to tell in the dim lighting, but the pirate was pretty sure he saw a uniform clad leg kick out from the surface once, briefly, before completely submerging. 

Ana snatched up the scallop shell from the sandbar and charged at the water’s edge before Jamie could comprehend the loss of yet another of their number. She was screaming something in a language he didn’t understand as a huge shadow rose out of the water to meet her, one big arm steadfastly holding something under the water. A growl chilled the blood in his body as he watched the woman go for that arm, hacking and slashing to get him to let go of her friend. 

It must be nice to have someone to do that for you. Risk their life.

The merman drew back his other arm and backhanded Ana away from him in one sweep, sending her flying into the cave wall. She collapsed on the sand and did not move again, some of the merman’s blood joining the stains already dotting the beach. Dipping underwater once again, the creature took ahold of something in its teeth. Gabe rose above the surface, seemingly unconscious from his forced drowning and hanging like a limp chew toy. Claws shredded through his clothes, ribbons of cloth falling away as it raking over him again and again, ending with a snap of it’s head to throw the body onto the sand.

Huge eyes turned on him now, and he was sure it heard it laughing this time. A baritone chuckle reverberated off the walls until it was the only thing inside his head, louder still than even the beating of his heart in his ears. He swallowed once as he waited for it to make a move, waited for the fishing hook to flash out and catch him about the middle. He was so skinny the impact alone might tear him in half, spilling his guts across the sand for the monster to snack on later.

The monster had chosen a good time to feed. There weren’t many places on the sandbar that Jamie could go and still be out of reach, not with the high tide lapping at his heels. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, terrified to blink in case he missed that deadly hook.

“Here little piggy…” 

It beckoned him closer with a blood-stained claw, huge pupils fixated on Jamie’s face. Like he would willingly walk forward to the slaughter. Like he was going to die here in this cave. The pirate shuddered and found his words stuck in his throat. He’d planned something to say but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what it was.

“G’day!” The blonde eventually choked out, tone considerably less calm than he’d have liked it to be. “Big bloke, ain’tcha?”

Obviously the creature was big. He was going have to do better than that if he wanted to sweet talk this thing.

“Good with yer claws and fuck me, those teeth are the sharpest things I ever seen. And that fucking hook? Bloody brilliant mate, ain’t never would have seen it coming. Near about shit myself when ya got Gabe with it.”

It was silent, although he could definitely feel an air of confusion cutting through the sheer malice radiating off the merman. Encouraged, he pressed on.

“I got a deal for a big fuck like ya! Help me out an’ you’ll be richer than ya ever dreamed of. I know where somethin’ real good is buried, somethin’ that’ll set us up for life.” He paused. “Well, I don’t know what mermen’s lives are like, but money is money, right? We’ll be fuckin’ kings, ya could probably buy yerself a lagoon and replace the water in it with gold if ya wanted.”

Still the creature was silent, but the beckoning hand had fallen to his side once again. Jamie took that as a good sign because of the lack of anything else, feeling brave enough to peel himself off the cave wall and take a few steps towards the water. Still well out of grabbing range, because he wasn’t stupid.

“Maybe not that, cause you’d die, but somethin’ like it! All ya gotta do is let me go and help me find the treasure, I’ll split it with ya, fifty fifty.”

The merman snorted. 

“You don’t even have it.” Derision ran through his words.

“I’m gonna get it! And I’m the only one who knows where it is, I can guaran-fuckin’-tee that. Premier access to the best hoard o’ gold that’ll ever be dug up.”

He’d swallowed the map, to be precise. After breaking into the captain’s cabin, it had been a free for all. After treating himself to the good booze, the stuff that the man kept locked in a cabinet so the crew couldn’t waste it with their drinking games, he’d rifled through the man’s papers. Jamie had never learned to read, but he knew how to tell what was important and what wasn’t. 

The books with long lists of numbers meant absolutely nothing to him, as did the ones that were full of incomprehensible writings. There were more books than he’d ever thought could possibly exist in the world stuffed on the man’s shelves, kept hidden away from the rest of the world. Jamie had pawed through the volumes, flipping between the pages with pictures on them and playing a guessing game as to what they were about.

That was how he’d found the map. It was in a dusty volume, one in the very back of the shelves. It looked as though the man had barely touched it, preferring the volumes with complicated maps and grids. This one was mostly words, accompanied with sparse illustrations of fish and sea monsters. When the pirate grabbed it, a loose sheet of paper had fallen, dislodged from the crinkly pages. 

Almost like fate. Almost like he’d been meant to find it.

Maps were another story entirely. Jamie was very good at maps- his brain semed to absorb the ordered images, the shape of the continents quickly orienting themselves before his eyes. He liked to fiddle with things and the talent came in handy- the navigator had been teaching him, showing him the paths of the stars and how to read the winds. For the apprentice of the man who managed the gunpowder, this was a whole new world.

He knew he could remember it. There was something about this map that differentiated itself from the others, something that told him this was important. It felt heavier in his calloused hands than the others, and the ink was still thick and clear. A symbol at the end of the path stood out to him, two hands clasped around a diamond. It called to him. As if he was the only one to ever lay eyes on it.

Jamie was willing to bet his life that he was. 

The captain had returned before he was supposed to, spelling the end of the blonde’s field trip and his time on the ship. But he’d quickly stuffed it in his mouth when the door flew open, swallowed it down before there was iron pinching his wrists and chains dragging from his feet. Just in case the captain ever figured out what it was he had in his possession, the boy didn’t want anyone else to find what he had. Even though he was going to his death, he’d have a secret to take with him to the grave.

Something that someone would remember him by, one day. The boy who’d taken treasure from the world as his final act.

Except, somehow, it hadn’t been his final act and he now had a chance to actually take that treasure for himself.

He had no way to know if all the promises he was making the beast would really come true. If he was indeed right about being the only person to know where the treasure was buried, if there would even be anything to find once they got there. Maybe he’d come to the end of the journey and find that he’d bought his life from the beast with empty sand and broken seashells. 

Jamie would burn that bridge when he came to it. There was no room for him to begin to doubt his words, not when he was staring a monster in the face and lying his ass off. 

Maybe. He might not have been lying his ass off. Jamie hoped to god he wasn’t lying his ass off.

“C’mon big guy, think about it… Untold riches just waiting for us. You can buy yer own fuckin’ ocean where no one else can intrude. They’ll sacrifice humans to you, ya can have a whole fuckin’ stock of folks to eat. Much better to eat than me scrawny ass.”

The merman stared pointedly at him before the mask tilted down to look at the ground around Jamie’s feet. He risked a glance downwards, finding nothing but sand and blood.

“You come with your own toothpick.” The merman said, and from his voice it sounded like he’d like nothing better than to use Jamie’s peg leg to pick his teeth.

“Ya gotta work with me here, really! Sure, I’m tasty and delicious, all wrapped up in a convenient little package for ya. But if ya delay your meal now, it’ll be a whole lot better for you in the long run.”

Shit, he’d used the word delay. As in, it might be okay to eat him one day, after their grand adventure was over and they were rich as kings. 

Before he could backtrack on his words, the merman was moving, shifting closer to him over the sand. Jamie instinctively took a step back and struck his head on the rock wall, pain ringing through his temples. He held perfectly still as it sniffed the air around him, mask uncomfortably close to his face. The pirate kept his eyes trained on the sharp teeth that lined the shark’s mask, afraid that the creature would move and shred him to bits.

“Swear to me that you’re telling the truth.”

Jumping to attention, the blonde laughed nervously, raising one hand to draw an X over his heart. Lying was second nature and so it was easy to say the words with wide and sincere eyes, just the right amount of excitement peppering his voice. No need to let his doubts. 

“I swear. Help me find it and we’ll be rich.”

It laughed, long and low, the same chuckle he’d heard earlier as it hunted. The mask was shoved even closer, the shark’s teeth pressing uncomfortably against his face. From the dark depths of the mask, he heard something wet, and then a cold, slimy tongue was curling against the side of his cheek. 

The merman was lapping at the blood there, at the spray that had stained him from Zarya’s wound. From the contented noises it made as it slurped, he gathered that the blood was delicious, frozen as he was in case he made it angry. Something inside him shuddered when the tongue was finally withdrawn, cool air rushing over his wet skin.

“Th-thanks, mate.” Uncertainty laced his words. Did this mean it had decided to let him live?

They stood still for a moment, staring at each other. Jamie willed his gaze not to move from the merman’s steely grey eyes, though curiosity was burning deep in his gut. Was the monster deformed under there? Did the scars that covered his whole body extend to his face as well?

After a minute, the creature chuckled and pulled away from him, settling back into the water. Somewhere to Jamie’s left, Gabriel groaned, somehow still alive after the mauling.

“What is your name, little human?”

“Junkrat! Junkrat to most, Jamie Fawkes to me friends. If ya want to count among ‘em, I can definitely arrange something.” He grinned, finally letting himself relax. Asking his name was definitely a good sign. It meant that the monster would keep him around long enough to need it.

The merman looked him dead in the eye.

“I’ll take the deal.”

Shouting for joy, the pirate forgot himself for a moment and raced forward to clasp his arms around the beast’s neck. The skin beneath him was cold and wet, slightly more rough than human skin but not unpleasant. It smelled of rotting fish up close, and the stench threatened to overwhelm the boy. There was a sudden tenseness in the thing’s muscles, like it expected him to try and attack from the position. Dimly, he remembered that Zarya had thrown her arms around the creature like this, to attempt to hold it still. She was bleeding to death on the sand.

One huge hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tugged him off with ease. The merman pulled him around to stare at him once more.

“But. You should be sure not to forget.”

It leaned in until the edges of the shark teeth grazed Jamie’s face. The pirate caught a glimpse of cruel, upturned lips and a nose that was little more than a mass of ruined flesh. Up close, it’s breath stank, nausea churning deep inside him. He hoped he wouldn’t throw up on it.

“One day I am going to devour you, Jamie Fawkes.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-Beta'd. If you notice anything, please let me know! I am a simple man and cannot catch all of my typos.

The shark had vanished, after their deal was struck, not sticking around to listen to Jamie’s excited chattering. One clawed hand was pressed tight to the wound in it’s stomach, non-lethal but definitely painful looking. The skin already looked puffy and pink with infection, the hook covered in rust and god only knew how many bodily fluids. Unfortunately Ana’s seaweed bandage had been ruined in the fight or he would have given it to the creature as a show of good faith. A little gesture, just to say “I hope you don’t bleed out.”

Before it slipped into the water, it had mentioned it wouldn’t be gone long, just long enough to grab a few things from wherever it made it’s home. It would come back for him and take him back to shore. They’d figure out what they would do once Jamie had his feet firmly back on solid land, instead of the loose, shifting sands.

In the meantime, he was amusing himself by kicking sand into the water and onto the fire. It wasn’t as though the folks around here would need the light for much longer. Zarya was lost to the depths of the pool, bones fated to join the pile lying at the rocky bottom. It had drowned her as soon as it had the chance, eliminating the biggest threat by far. Ana hadn’t stirred yet, lying in a crumpled heap against the wall of the cave. He felt the most bad about that one- she’d saved his life, after all. Jamie found himself hoping she didn’t wake up to the pitch black of the cave and the knowledge that he’d trapped them all there to save his own skin.

Gabriel seemed to be on the verge of death, though he could still moan and cry out. His raspy breathing echoed off the walls around them, bloody foam falling from his lips every time they twitched. Jamie could see the shining white of bone, patches of the soldier’s ribcage exposed to the cool air. Bits of entrails were coated in sand, splayed around the man’s abdomen in a grotesque display. Rat contemplated finding a rock somehow and smashing the man’s head in, just to put him out of his misery. It would be a mercy, compared to slowly dying alone in the sand. 

“Sorry ‘bout this mate. Can’t bring ya with us, ya know the deal. Don’t want me new friend ta get the scent of blood and decide he’s still hungry.” He chattered to the half dead man for lack of something better to do, watching the flames dwindle with his arms wrapped around his knees. Despite everything going as planned, there was a chill in his stomach whenever he turned towards Gabe, saw the damage the shark had done with it’s claws and teeth in only a few seconds. 

“Ya want me ta just off ya, get it over with? Wheeze once for yes and twice for no.”

There was no change in the labored breathing that he could determine. The soldier’s eyes were open and staring, glassy.

“Oh, that’s real helpful. C’mon, ya gotta work with me here. Don’t want yer shitty ghost haunting me for the rest of my life if I do ya in and it turns out you’d rather have just laid there and suffered. Course, dunno why ya would pick that, but I ain’t one to judge. Maybe ya got a thing for it an’ wanna die with a stiffy.”  


Probably a good thing that the merman returned not long after that particular snippet of dialogue. Jamie wasn’t good at entertaining himself for very long.

“See ya in the after life, Gabby.” He whispered to the limp body and turned to watch his ride make it’s way towards him.

It rose out of the water with a bag slung over one shoulder. He squinted at it, wondering if everything within was completely soaked in seawater. There was a leather belt wrapped around the creature’s stomach and the hook had been set in a sort of holster on it, the metal winking at him in the dim light. Rat resolved to stay as far away from the weapon as he could possibly get. There were gold chains slung around the creature’s neck and large golden rings glinting on his fingers, presumably the treasures the merman had gone back for. He whistled at them appreciatively, climbing to his feet and strolling closer. A braid of gold had been threaded through the silver hair, wrapped around the hairtie a few times with the long edge mingling through the individual strands. 

Clearly, it already had wealth of it’s own. Jamie felt hungry for his own pieces of gold, his own trinkets to show off his money. His tongue prodded at the empty space on his gum, already imagining a nice, shiny gold tooth to fill the space.

The monster took a moment to survey the scene, noting that Gabe was still breathing, before he turned and offered his broad back to Jamie. The pirate crept closer, unsure what he was supposed to do. He hadn’t gotten a fucking piggy back ride since he was an anklebiter, and hanging around the neck of a grown man –a grown man that could shred him to bits without thinking- felt wrong.

“Get on.” 

Swallowing a lump in his throat, he leaned forward and tentatively put one of his hands on the merman’s shoulders. His skin was warm, far warmer than the water, and slightly rough to the touch. It chafed at his fingers, easy to cling to but uncomfortable to hold for long. Rat took a deep breath before he waded into the water, pressing his whole body against the creature’s warm one. His fingers interlocked around it’s neck, both his arms stretching and straining to be able to reach around the girth. His legs pressed awkwardly against the fin that rose on it’s back and he was forced to shift them to the side, dangling off the creature’s body and into the surf. He hung there for a moment as the monster waited for him to get situated.

“Inhale.”

“Wha-?”

It dove and it took all of Jamie’s strength to cling to it’s back. Underneath his hands he could feel powerful muscles moving, working to propel them along the floor of the pool. His eyes instinctively slammed shut at the feel of the water but he could already tell they’d gone farther than he had in his own attempt to swim out. Around his arms, bubbles escaped from the creature’s gills, tickling the skin.  
Cold water pressed on him from all sides, and Rat made a promise to himself that this was the last time he would go swimming for a long, long while. His lungs and throat were still sore from the almost-drownings and his chest ached every time he took a breath. The gigantic bruise on his chest was a hideous shade of greenish purple, a color that made it look as though he had some sort of awful disease whenever he lifted his shirt.

Unable to draw in the huge breath that the monster had recommended at the beginning of their journey, thanks in part to his overactive mouth, the pirate could only count down the seconds. His body began screaming for air far sooner than he’d have liked, his lungs protesting the strain. Thumping in his ears grew louder and he struggled to keep still on the creature’s back, muscles contracting and easing in the hopes that somewhere, somehow, he’d find air. One hand thumped on the merman’s back, trying to signal it that he was going to die if he didn’t get to breathe soon. In response, he felt them speed up, the creature reacting.

He hoped it was enough, because it would be fucking embarrassing to die at this point, so close to freedom.

When his head broke the surface, Jamie inhaled the largest breath he’d ever taken in his life. They bobbed on the surf, the shark’s momentum carrying them partways out of the water before they resettled with a monumental splash. It snorted in disdain at him as he panted, and through his gasping, he could practically hear the creature rolling it eyes at the pirate’s theatrics.

“We ain’t all got gills an’ shit.” He muttered in it’s ear and the merman rolled his shoulders, ostensibly popping and stretching them, but conveniently dumping Jamie off and into the water at the same time. Rat squawked as he got another mouthful of sea water, the weight of his pegleg already starting to drag him below the surf. He got in one good glare before he had to suck it up and cling to the merman again, who exuded a smug, satisfied air despite saying nothing.

It was night and all above him, Jamie could see nothing but stars. After the claustrophobic walls of the cave, the world around him stretched endlessly. A breeze blew at the salt on his face, brushing particles of sand from his eyes and dragging at the crust on his lips. He tried to savor the feeling of freedom as his partner began to swim, ducking underneath the water again. 

Jamie managed to keep his head above water as he clutched the merman, who was swimming helpfully close to the surface to avoid drowning his new human. The creature’s ears were underwater but that didn’t stop Rat from chattering at him, finding nothing to do with himself but throw his head back, look at the stars, and talk. Judging by the positions of the stars, he could tell they were still in the same general patch of ocean that he’d been in when his ship threw him overboard, but he wasn’t skilled enough yet to tell which direction they were heading. 

“What’s yer name anyway? I told you mine already, gotta know who I’m talkin’ to. What are mermaid names even like? Do all a’ ya call yerselves ‘Crystal’ or ‘Marina’ or cheesy shit like that? Once met a hooker whose whole schtick was havin’ sex in a swimmin’ pool that she rented from an inn keep. Kept the water real warm and wore a fake tail on her legs. Just enough holes in the fabric where it counted, yaknow? Charged a pretty penny to fuck a mermaid, but one a’ me crew mates did it once and said she was the best lay she’d ever had. Swore that if we ever had a chance ta fuck a mermaid, we should take it.”

The wind was chilly now, rather than refreshing. It nipped at his cold skin, squirming underneath the soaked shirt that clung to his skinny frame and making him shiver. Jamie swore to himself that the first thing he did when he got back on dry land would be finding a new set of clothes and a mug of ale. Shelter, food, and everything else could come later, but those two things were absolutely essential.

“Do mermaids drink? Have y’all got beer down there, under the water? Dunno how you could, without all that salt gettin’ in there, but how could y’all live there for so long without alcohol? Got any secret mermaid’s brew ya can share with me? Maybe I’ll get a pair o’ gills, like you got, an we can go swimmin’ in circles.”

He imaged himself with a set of frilly gold fins on either side of his face, sharp teeth, and claws long enough to rip a man’s eye out at ten paces. 

“Yer food an’ drink ain’t like that fairy shit, right? Read somewhere that if ya eat some a’ their food, yer trapped with ‘em forever. Course, no one can tell me exactly why a bunch a little pixies in tha’ woods would want humans around. We’re all loud and most a’ us smell bad.”

Jamie himself was rather proud of his usual odor- a mix of gunpowder, sweat, and the bitter tang of the poison they set out for the rats on the ship so they wouldn’t eat all the food. It wasn’t like he ate the stuff, but his bunk was pretty much right in the middle of the rat’s nest. No way to avoid it unless he wanted to wake up with a living blanket. 

That’s why they’d taken to calling him Junkrat. He collected bits and pieces of metal under his mattress, adamant that one day he could make them useful.

In fact, he still had a few plans in his head kicking around. They’d have to find some way to make money, before they could head out for the treasure. Boats were expensive and so were the supplies needed to sail for months on end, so unless the merman was somehow swimming him straight to the closest port to that island, they’d have a long journey ahead of them. Once they got their feet under them, Jamie would need to find a crew to help him man the ship. None of them would be getting a cut of the treasure, of course- he’d already split that once before he even got his hands on the damn thing. But the crew would need to be paid somehow.

He hadn’t lived on a pirate ship for most of his life for nothing. With the extra money he was sure they’d have after they hired everyone and bought supplies, Jamie would make a run to the artillery store. Visions of canons and more danced through his head, bombs that he could throw with just his hands, little things that would explode in fire and metal. Things that would make his ship a terror to sail against. Things that would make his name famous throughout the world. And with a trusty backup plan swimming around in the water in case a fight went sideways, there was no way he could lose.

“It’s a good thing ya wanted to save me for later, mate. You an’ me, we’re gonna burn the whole fucking world down.”

Rat paused for a second.

“Well, drown it more likely, given how much you like swimming.”

The journey continued on like that for some time. Occasionally the shark would raise his head above the water, slowing to take into account the position of the stars above them. Jamie’d tried striking up a conversation with the creature when he did so, delighted to know that they had something in common.

“You can read the stars too? That’s fuckin’ aces mate! I can only read a little bit, never got a chance to finish learnin’ before I was forced into retirement, you know how it is. Think you could finish showing me sometime?”

His question went unanswered, the merman sinking back underneath the waves when it was thoroughly satisfied with their course. Rat tried to doze, but every time he dropped his head, he got a face full of seawater that shook him right back up. He hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in what felt like years and he added another necessity to his list. 

Warm clothes, beer, and then a bed. He’d been an idiot for thinking a bed wasn’t absolutely essential.

Around sunrise, he got the first hint of land on the horizon. He’d been squinting at the colors in the sky, trying to decide where exactly the dark blue of night ended and the pale blue of day began, when he realized that lying smack dab in front of them was a rapidly growing silhouette. It was too far away for him to make out any specific features but he whooped with joy anyway, reaching down to smack the merman in excitement. The creature gave him a warning growl in return but seemed to put on a little more speed, perhaps as happy as he was to finally see shore.

He’d been swimming all night at the same pace, with a human clinging to his back and his hook resting at his side. While Jamie weighed hardly anything, it had to be adding up. 

Was the pirate going to have to book this merman a room at a hotel with a pool? It occurred to him that he hadn’t thought about how exactly this was going to work. Rat could walk around on land just fine, but the fish that weighed hundreds of pounds and could only move by dragging himself along would attract a lot of attention. While no one could doubt the monster’s strength, having seen what Jamie had seen, he didn’t like the beast’s chances against hundreds of poachers, all eager to hang the prize of a lifetime upon their wall.

Could he perhaps get away?

It was a new thought. He’d been so focused on winning the merman to his side, on getting it to take him back to land, that he hadn’t thought about just… Leaving. Not returning to whatever cove or shore he inevitably had to leave his new companion behind on. How would the creature track him, when it couldn’t even leave the ocean? How would it know if Jamie simply got on the next ship he could find and sailed away on his own? He didn’t like his chances of out-swimming it, sure, but it couldn’t follow him onto boats.

Rat had to stifle the sudden explosion of giggles that threatened to break out of him. His shoulders shook with the effort of holding himself together as he bowed low over the creature’s back, biting his lips hard enough to draw blood.

He’d managed to trick a powerful, mythical sea monster without even trying. The thing was taking him all the way back to land without even raising the question of how they’d remain as partners once Jamie was free. That treasure would be all his for the taking, just as soon as his boots hit sand.

Anticipation built in his stomach as the line of land in the distance grew and grew. He began to pick out buildings and ships against a backdrop of dramatic, sweeping mountains. There wasn’t enough detail from this distance for him to be able to make out discerning features, but he could see small figures pulling line and tackle, getting their boats in working order for the day. It was the early morning and that meant fishermen would set out soon, to beat the sun’s heat and try to make it back to market with their catches before any of the others.

The merman seemed to realize this as well, and their progress slowed as he began moving in a wide arc around the shore, staying far enough away that the two could easily be mistaken for waves. Gradually, the pair worked their way around the harbor and towards a small indent in the shape of the coast. It turned out to be a small, shallow pool that rushed up onto the sand and sank away every few seconds. The ease with which the creature navigated the shallow sandbars made Jamie think he’d been here before.  


After the cave, he’d never have thought he’d be so happy to see sand. But the brilliant white of it against the blue ocean was the sweetest sight to his tired eyes. When the merman finally slowed to a halt, Rat shakily unwrapped himself from it’s back and shakily stood in the shallow waters. He ached all over, his back cracking a few times as the pirate stumbled into the sand and let himself drop. His arms shook even when he didn’t move them, muscles strained and screaming from being pushed for so long.

Jamie peeked over his shoulder and saw the creature taking a moment of its own. Those powerful arms were pushed deep into the sand, holding him up as he took what appeared to be huge, heaving breaths. Rat almost felt guilty, hearing how the merman gasped for air now and watching his own arms shake as they held his weight.

“Yer a fuckin’ beast, ya know that?” 

Something like snorting laughter filled the air. It moved eventually, pulling the bag slung around it’s body off and setting it further up on the sand. The hook stayed in it’s holster as the merman began to haul itself further up onto the shore, until almost the entirety of that huge body was splayed out on the sand. Jamie gaped.

The shark’s tail had to be 8ft long. Maybe larger. It moved in powerful strokes to help the creature onto land, and he watched in fascination as the muscles underneath the skin bulged and slid with the effort. There were more scars here, ones that looked years old- long turned by time into a faded silver, the marks almost blended in entirely with the creature’s skin. Here and there were divots in the flesh, covered by a larger network of scarring. As if something had taken a chunk out of the merman and it had never quite healed all the way.

He wondered if it hurt when mermaids got salt in their wounds.

“Whoa, whoa, hey buddy, ya don’t gotta go through that trouble for me!”

Jamie forced himself to his feet and put on his most charming smile, watching the creature continue to beach itself.

“Thanks fer followin’ up on yer end of the bargain an all. Never thought I’d be so happy ta see the sun. I’ll just pop down to town and grab some grub fer us, okay? Meet right back here to discuss our plan of attack, how we’re gonna go grab that gold. You n’ me mate!”

It stared at him blankly, no sound or movement coming from behind the mask to indicate that it understood. He’d have just turned tail and run, but the hook was shining in the sun and the vision of it shredding through the meat of Zarya’s forearm was too fresh in his mind to ignore. 

“Roight.” Rat stated awkwardly, when he felt the silence had stretched on for too long. He started backing up the beach in what he hoped was a subtle way, wanting as much distance between him and that hook as was possible before he made a break for it.

“I’m just gonna…”

The merman moved and he hated himself for the way he flinched, arms raising to protect his head from the weapon surely flying his way. Jamie had never been great at lying outright, even when he was at his best. And this definitely wasn’t his best.

But pain never blossomed in his body like he expected it too. Light leaked around his fingers, brighter than the sunbeams bearing down on the little cove, brighter than anything he’d ever seen in his life. A series of strained, painful sounding grunts came from the center of this blinding inferno. He backed away on instinct and ended up tripping over his own peg leg, ending up on his ass in the sand.

Something was happening, to the edges of the creature’s tail. They blurred with an unnatural vibration, the muscle movements he’d seen before becoming more frantic, more disgusting. To his horror, he watched as a fresh wound bloomed across the merman’s body, separating the tail into two halves. Blood poured onto the sand as it writhed, the burning light enveloping it’s face and torso as the tail continued to twist and contort itself into two, recognizable shapes. 

Jamie watched the edges of the fins curl in on themselves, rotting away until they were simply masses of flesh at the end of long legs. He puked fish guts and water when the nubs split further, making toes and marking out the lines of a heel and an arch. 

When the separation was done, the merman roared in a voice choked with pain, hands now scrambling for purchase on the sand as he shook and shuddered with the rest of the transformation. The fin on his back was gone as fast as his tail had vanished; receding into the brown skin of his back that was suddenly covered in more of the intricate, whirling tattoos.

There was a man lying on the sand in front of him now, where a monster had been. Silver hair dripped over his shoulders and down to the sand, tied with the same band and threaded with the same gold chain. He panted with exertion, lying face down on the ground, one arm crossed under his chest to prop himself up. The other hand glinted with the same rings Jamie had seen the merman wearing, big gaudy things that had no right being as huge as they were.

God, even as a person, he was still the biggest fucking thing Rat had ever seen.

The head rose and he was fixed with the same stare as before, the blankness of the shark mask’s dripping teeth belying the glare that shot through him.  


He gave the man a smile, as if he hadn’t just been trying to scramble away, as if it hadn’t been completely obvious he was about to screw him out of the deal.

“So, uh… That’s a nifty trick.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggestive situations

The merman actually had a name. He didn’t know why he was surprised to find that out. In his head, he’d taken to calling it all sorts of names- monster, creature, beast- so that reconciling this man standing in front of him with the mythical creature on the sand moments ago was a struggle. Granted, it was one of the weirdest names he’d ever heard. You could have quizzed Jamie for hours on possible names for his new partner and he’d never have come up with Roadhog.

“Do they have roads underwater?”

He didn’t get an answer, Roadhog opting instead to reach into the bag he’d brought along with him. A tattered pair of shorts emerged, the cloth faded with age and salt. Rat was quite sure he could comfortably use them as a blanket, if the need ever arose. Faking modesty, he averted his eyes from Hog as the larger man climbed into the clothes. He’d already gotten an eyeful, enough to let him know that everything had become human, but it wouldn’t do to be caught staring at someone else’s junk. Had to do that sort of shit on the fly.

When there was no more rustling cloth, Junkrat looked up into the shark mask. It had remained firmly in place throughout the transformation, much to the pirate’s disappointment. He wanted to get a look at the guy’s face, to see the secret that lurked under the admittedly impressive shark skin. But the teeth, curved and yellow in the light, were doing a wonderful job of fiding everything from view. Roadhog shook his head, tossing his silver ponytail back over his shoulder, and fixed Rat with what would have been a scathing stare if his eyes were visible.

“Where you go, I go.”

Well, that was one way to make sure Jamie didn’t just up and run. He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, an innocent smile spread across his face.

“Sure Roadie! Wouldn’t have it any other way, I’m just glad ya got yer little problem taken care of. Betcha feel like a fish outta water now though, am I right?”

No answer. 

Jamie turned on his peg leg and began to march in the direction the port had been, chest puffed out and head held high. They were still going to get a ship together, still going to sail the world and find that fucking treasure. He was just going to have to figure out another way to ditch the big guy.

After a moment, he realized there was no dark, looming shadow behind him. A glance over his shoulder showed him the merman standing still, mask aimed in his direction, one hand on his hook and the other clenched into a huge fist. Instantly he was on the defensive.

“Whoa, whoa there big guy, easy! I’m just walkin’, ya can do that too! One foot in front of the other, I ain’t going anywhere.”

“Shut up.”

Rat blinked and watched as Roadhog seemed to have an internal debate with himself. 

Finally, one huge, trunk-like leg raised itself into the air and stepped forward onto the sand. Jamie hadn’t excepted that to actually be the problem. Teaching a guy three times his size to walk wasn’t something he’d imagined himself doing today.

“Ya gotta put yer arms out fer balance, or somethin’? That the first time you ever did yer little transformation-thingy? Yer awfully big, don’t think I could carry ya or nothin’.”

Hog took another step forward and Jamie watched as his whole body tensed. Very slowly, the big guy began to make his way across the beach and over to Junkrat, body tensing every time his foot hit the ground. He didn’t seem like he was having issues walking, no balance troubles or tripping over his own huge feet. The pirate shrugged after a minute spent watching him, turning back to the jungle in front of them. 

The cove wasn’t too far from the port. At most, it should take them an hour walking through the wilderness, dodging tree roots and rocks in the jungle. Jamie didn’t think he’d ever been anywhere so green- the ports he usually called at were hubs of activity, with grey stone and brick and smog lying over every inch of the place. The few times he’d ventured out of the town, it had been night and he’d been rather preoccupied with whatever sneaking mission he was on for his captain. Couldn’t very well move treasure through the towns during the daytime.

“Do ya reckon these trees an’ shit are good wood for ships? We’re gonna have ta get one in order to cash in, an’ they don’t come cheap. I’m just thinkin’ we build our own, maybe get a few crew guys together. Not too many, if we get too many that’s more people we got to kill for our treasure. Gets too messy, ‘specially if they start trynna defend each other.”

He glanced over his shoulder again and was forced to slow his pace to allow Roadhog to keep up. While the big guy was walking, he seemed to only be taking about ten steps every few minutes. Jamie bounced on the ball of his feel, impatiently watching as the former merman caught up with him once again. 

The hook glinted in the light, wickedly sharp from this close up.

Huffing came from underneath the shark mask, labored breathing that spoke of physical exertion far beyond a simple walk through the jungle. Rat squinted his eyes at the larger man, trying to figure out exactly what was wrong. He’d just swum them a huge way, sure, but he couldn’t be that tuckered out just by walking a few feet. Swiping at a palm frond that threatened to knock him off his feet, the pirate made an impatient noise, trying not to bound too far out of Roadhog’s sight. He had no doubt that the hook would be ready and waiting to bring him back.

Buzzing filled the air around him as he waited for the merman, insects and animals starting up their chorus of noise once again. It was almost like he could feel the buzzing inside his skull, vibrating through him and rocking the core of his being.

Jamie had wanted this for so long. An edge, a way to keep himself afloat. There wouldn’t be anymore sleeping with the rats, not if he could help it. This was going to be his ticket, his way to get himself recognized. No one would fuck with him ever again.

He was just so fucking excited, even if he had to wait for Roadhog time and time again.

They finally made it through the jungle when the sun was high in the sky. Sweat poured down Rat’s body in buckets as he stumbled through the trees and onto the edge of a small market. The fishing town was small and everything angled itself around the docks. From their slightly elevated position on the mountain, he could see lines of people making their way back and forth from the water’s edge. Spread out over the bay were small fishing boats, their sails colored red and yellow and white.

Hog looked over at him for a moment before he took a seat on a nearby tree stump, bare feet already stained with mud and dirt. Rat trotted over and sat in the dirt at his feet, shooting the merman-turned-human a questioning look. He wanted to be down in the town already, among the people, grabbing a bite to eat and finding the inn with the softest beds in town.

The merman didn’t seem inclined to start speaking though and so Jamie took over the talking after a moment, figuring that he should at least fill Hog in on his plans. If the guy was going to be his constant shadow for fuck knows how long, he should at least make an effort to get along with him.

“So, I’m real fucking tired an’ shit, I bet you are too. I figure we find a nice place to grab some food, cause I ain’t eaten anything but fish in days, and then we collapse into bed and get some well earned rest. Wake up when it’s dark out an’ all the, uh… Less respectable types are out. Good way to plan our next move on the road to untold riches, yeah?”

Roadhog seemed to be having trouble catching his breath. In between Jamie’s words, he could hear the guy huffing and puffing away on his stump, drawing huge lungfuls of air in gigantic, uneven gaps.   
If he got lucky, the guy would just keel over right here and he wouldn’t have to worry about finding the money to pay for two hotel rooms instead of just one. 

“How’d you do that transformation shit anyway? Sounds like it really took a toll on ya, ya got somethin’ stuffed up yer lungs. There still water in there or somethin’? Maybe ya should just wait fer me in the harbor, like I said. Gotta be better for ya.”

The false notes of concern in his voice rang through crystal clear, despite his attempts to conceal it. Somehow he felt Hog’s eyes glaring into him even though he couldn’t see anything of his face behind the mask.

Eventually they got moving again. Eventually all the things Rat was chattering on about were lost to the hustle and bustle of the market.

People rushed about them with baskets balanced on their heads, piled high with fruit or freshly caught fish. There were a few stalls set up around them, but they sold mostly pots and pans or rugs, the food stalls closer to the port. Rat watched with an eagle eye for any sign of a shopkeep dozing off- an easy target. They were going to have to buy the food and a bed for the night, and he didn’t think the merman would be amenable to selling one of his gold rings or chains.

What he wasn’t used to was traveling with someone the size of a mountain. Townspeople naturally avoided walking into Roadhog’s path, and while he lumbered behind Jamie, they also got the hell out of his way. It made him feel important, powerful- he could pretend it was him they were afraid of, instead of the man he was with. 

It also created a bit of a problem. He was used to being able to slip through crowds pretty much unnoticed, able to blend easily despite his size. Usually there were all sorts of purses and coin bags to pick through, easy enough to cut himself a hole and palm a little cash before dashing away.

There was no one he could rub up against here, no ripe patron who wanted to unwittingly fund their stay in the town. Jamie found himself scowling, swinging his head around in the hopes that a solution would present itself to him. It wasn’t like he could just ask the big guy to fuck off for a minute while he secured them some cash.

Well.

Could he?

Jamison spun on his heel in the middle of the street, ready to beg for a few seconds alone, and was surprised to find Roadhog a few stalls behind him. He seemed to be perusing the selection of fine lamps the man had to sell, huge hands picking up each of the creations of glass rather roughly and turning them over for inspection. The shop keeper was watching this process with a dawning horror, clearly expecting some of his stock to break in those fingers. 

Hog shot Jamie a glance to see if he’d noticed yet.

Rat was all over the man in a matter of seconds. All over his coin purse, anyway.

Turned out that a massive man could be a good distraction for the barest tickle of someone picking your pocket. Hog inquired about the price of a particularly grand lamp while the smaller man dipped his fingers into the newly made hole on the side of the man’s purse, pulling a few silver coins out before melting back into the market crowd.

Abruptly, the merman stopped his haggling and set down the creation with far greater care than he’d been using before. He rejoined Rat, leaving a confused shop keep behind to watch after them and shake his head. Jamie waited until they’d left the man’s line of sight before he turned to playfully punch Hog’s arm.

“Bloody brilliant, mate! I was just ‘bout ta ask ya ta fuck off, but yer idea worked too!”

It was probably the kind of ruse that wouldn’t work in a town used to pirates- in markets where he’d frequented, people kept their purses under iron and key, with weapons primed and ready to shoot at anyone who reached too far over the stall’s table. Didn’t mean that Junkrat couldn’t steal from them- he could steal from anyone he wanted to, thank you very much- but it was a hell of a lot more difficult than simply brushing up against someone, stumbling away like he was drunk, and finding a quiet corner to count his money.

Hog said nothing as Rat opened his hand to inspect how much he’d gotten- A gold coin and a few silver ones. Not his biggest haul ever, but it’d be enough to buy them a meal and a room for the night, which was all he’d wanted out of the encounter. With a new spring in his step, Jamie stepped back out into the flow of people. They parted before him once again, with Hog at his back, and this time he let himself imagine he was a king among peasants. All parting for him, staring in undisguised adoration and fear. 

“Shout if ya see an inn with a bar on the bottom floor, I’m fucking starving.”

A grunt of acknowledgement from behind him. Jamie left the scouting to Hog and went back to scanning the people around him, unsure what he was really looking for.

It wasn’t likely they’d find a fully fledged sailing vessel, complete with blood thirsty crew and cannons. The place seemed peaceful enough, judging by how few guards there were walking through the streets. At most, he’d probably be able to find one or two people who were down for a life of adventure and danger. Newbies. Disposable.

He’d been labeled that way enough times in his life. Never again would he settle for being a deckhand, someone’s apprentice, the kid that they kept around because he could squirrel his way into small places and handle a bag of gunpowder without hurting everyone. 

Jamie wanted to be the best pirate to ever sail the seas. He wanted a ship with soaring wooden beams and glistening decks, a ship with sails so red that people would gossip he’d dyed them with blood. Canons that gleamed in the light and devices of his own making, designed to throw fire and molten metal. A crew that feared him and loved him in equal measure. His own cabin, stuffed full of treasures and maps and a bed whose blanket was sewn from the flags of fallen ships. A little bit tacky, that- but no one ever accused Rat of having good taste.

Heavy hand landing on Rat’s shoulder, Roadhog steered the skinny pirate into the first inn they passed. It wasn’t the nicest looking of places and the sign above the door seemed to be hanging askew, but there was a row of tables and a bar that signaled long awaited food. Jamie threw himself into one of the chairs, immediately rocking back on the two back legs. Hog barely fit into the other chair at the table, and he had to stifle a laugh as he watched the big guy maneuver his weight delicately around the room. There were a few other people here, a guy asleep at the bar and a girl picking at a plate of something yellow-ish. 

After a minute, a young man stopped by the table with a few menus, flashing a charming smile at the pair despite the intimidating picture the merman made. Jamie couldn’t help his gaze following the guy as he made his way back to the bar- it had been fucking months since he’d gotten any, and the man’s dreadlocks were just begging to be pulled on. Maybe if he haggled just right, he could have some money left over to pay for a prostitute. Hoggie surely wouldn’t mind waiting outside while Jamie got a little fun in; he hadn’t been the one trapped in a tiny cave for days on end, with only an old lady, a soldier, and a Russian for company. Not much chance to rub one out there, or on the ship where he had work to do practically 24/7.

“Hogglesworth, tell me about yourself! I feel like I barely know ya, and if yer serious about followin’ me around, we should be best mates.”

Jamie barely managed to hold in his giggle. He could practically see the look Hog was giving him underneath the mask- something full of exasperation and annoyance. He loved getting those looks from people. Made him feel like he’d accomplished something, especially when they came from people who liked to project the image of themselves as stoic rocks. 

If the people he’d known before, who scowled and ignored his jokes, were rocks, then Roadhog was the mountain those boulders had fallen from. There was not a single word from behind the mask, no acknowledgement of anything he’d said.

When the silence had dragged on long enough to make him uncomfortable, Rat cleared his throat and smiled uneasily. That too garnered no reaction, other than Hog shifting his weight in the small chair and making it creak. 

Jamie made up his mind and slammed his hands down on the table, standing up abruptly from his chair. The unease on his face changed to his most charming smile and he stood up straight, licking one of his palms and passing the hand through his hair to slick it back. He could have probably have used a shower too, after their hours long trek through the jungle, but he was confident enough in his charm on it’s own. Hopefully the cute boy behind the bar, who was washing a plate and humming to himself, would see it his way too.

Without waiting to see how the merman reacted, he swaggered his way up to the bar and leaned over the edge, letting his gaze linger on the young man’s cheekbones. He had dark brown skin and the glow of the sun within his smile as he looked up from his work.

“Ready to order?” He asked, and Rat could almost hear the continuation of the song he’d been humming in his words. Forget Hog- spending a night with this boy would put him under a siren’s spell.

“Only if yer on the menu, mate.” He winked and watched the guy behind the counter blink as his meaning registered. 

“I’m an exclusive item, sorry. Top shelf.”

Snickering, Rat drew himself to his full height and rolled his shoulders back, letting the guy take a good look at the coils of muscle underneath his skin. Sure, he was skinny as a twig, but you didn’t work on a ship for years without coming away with some sort of strength.

“Sounds good to me. Gotta treat myself right, yaknow? Maybe treat you too?”

The guy shook his head and stepped away from the bar, finally dropping his smile in favor of a glare meant to send Jamie running back to his table.

“Not interested. Order, get a room for the night, or leave.”

“Aw, c’mon, gotta have someone to share the bed with, right? Can’t sleep all by myself-“

Before he continued, he felt someone grab him by the scruff of his neck and lift him bodily into the air. Jamie yelped, feet flailing off the ground and hands waving widely to find any purchase on the man who grabbed him. Hog’s now familiar rumble filled the air as the guy at the bar watched with an open mouth. His hand had dipped into a pocket of his apron to pull out a knife, seemingly prepared to throw the both of them out if he had to, but the merman spoke first as Rat thrashed and yelled.

“One room. I’m sleeping with you Rat. C’mon.”

Junkrat went still at the words, feeling his mouth pop open. Hog’s huge fingers dipped into the pocket he’d put the money in and laid out a few gold coins. Blood rushed to the pirate’s face as he tried to process what the huge merman had said.

The barkeeper started to laugh and went to count out the money, finally producing a room key with a number on it from underneath the bar. Rat couldn’t really focus on how musical the laughter was as Roadhog turned, still holding him aloft by the back of shirt, and began to march up the stairs. 

“Enjoy!” Shouted the man below them, with laughter in his voice, and Jamie gulped.

The rooms above the bar were set along a narrow, creaky corridor, with light coming in from a single, slanted window at the end of the hall. It seemed all the more ominous with Roadhog’s loud, thumping steps echoing off the walls, as though some monster were lurking, creeping closer to pounce.

Well, maybe there was.

“Hoggie, buddy, maybe ya got the wrong idea, but yer not exactly my type, per se!” An outright lie. “Didn’t know ya felt that way but, uh…” 

The merman slowed in front of the door marked 14, and opened it with their golden key. Inside was a narrow bed, a chest, and a chair. A little card hung on the wall, in a script that Rat couldn’t read, with an arrow pointing back out into the hallway. Hog dumped him in the rickety chair and dropped his own bag, closing the door to the small room behind him. It was insanely claustrophobic.

“I don’t got no slick with me and yer probably the size of me arm. Ya ain’t gon’ fit, no matter what we do. Maybe next time, yeah?”

Was he stuck traveling with a horny merman? In any normal circumstance, a guy like Roadhog would have Jamie on the bed and naked in three seconds flat. But fucking a fish felt… Weird. And he didn’t have the most wonderful personality, not to mention the threat of looming death that floated over his head. It didn’t add up to the sexiest of situations. Plus, he was serious about the slick- he’d been counting on the bar guy to have some.  
Hog turned to Jamie with a snort.

“I’m a lot bigger than your damn arm. But I’ll fit.” He said, in a gravelly voice that went straight to Rat’s dick. Before the pirate could think of how to reply, the huge merman lumbered his way across the room and laid on one side of the bed, his huge feet sticking off the bottom edge. There was a tiny bit of space between his arm and his gut left, but his girth took up most of the narrow mattress.

“See?” Hog said, in a tone of self-satisfaction. Jamie mentally rewound to his conversation with the bar keeper and Hog’s statements since, staring wide-eyed at the creature laid out across the bed.

The laugh started in his belly and worked its way through his entire body, until he was clutching at himself. His legs gave way underneath him and Jamie sat down hard on the floor, giggles echoing off the walls. The merman sat up, expression unreadable behind the mask. There were tears in his eyes when he finally regained control of himself.

Shit, that was about the funniest thing he’d ever heard. Red in the face, he pulled himself back up into the chair as Hog continued to watch him with obvious impatience, huge fingers tapping a discordant rhythm on the bedframe.

“I thought… Hoggie, I wanted to… Thought you wanted to…” How did he explain this in a way that didn’t get his skull bashed in? “Sleep with someone has a different, uh, meaning, up here on land.” He made a circle with his fingers on one hand and pushed a finger in and out of it, waggling his eyebrows. “I’m sure yer a handsome guy under there, but uh…”

Somehow the merman’s whole body flushed red, tan skin lighting up with a blush. He huffed through the mask as Jamie dissolved into laughter once again, large body shooting off the bed like it had shocked him. 

“Oh fuck, this is going to be a fucking fun trip…”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little short today, sorry! Having surgery soon and so the next chapter will probably take much more time than usual.

It turned out that the bar boy doubled as a smuggler. 

Junkrat found that out quite by accident, when he’d come down in the wee hours of the morning to knick some alcohol from the bar and found the kid with a stack of guns five feet high, and a pile of coins that was just as impressive. After he’d talked the guy- Lucio, he said his name was- out of pumping him full of holes, he’d managed to learn a little more about the port. Tern’s Roost, the lovely little slice of paradise Roadhog had hauled him to, was a thriving port city with an economy based mostly on stolen goods and gun trafficking. Apparently the residents had made an art of stealing from the royal navies for decades, pilfering weapons, information, and anything else they could get their hands on. Despite the large bay, the town itself only had about 2000 residents- which meant that both the military and the pirates overlooked it as a place to stop on their voyages.

Stolen goods were run to the nearest big city, a week’s worth of sailing away, and no one had yet wised up to the game in over sixty years of weaponry going missing in the general vicinity. 

Junkrat had hit the jackpot. He spent the night with Lucio, drinking as they laughed and swapped stories. The guy had demanded the pirate’s story in exchange for the information about the town, and Jamie was happily obliged. It had been a long time since anyone had asked him about himself and here he had a captive audience, one with a charming smile and wide eyes that were easy to adore. He was pretty confident the barboy wouldn’t turn him in as a pirate.

By morning, Rat had a plan in the back of his liquor-soaked mind, and a crush big enough to put Roadhog to shame. Lucio’d made him return to his rented room before he went about dealing with the impressive stock of guns in the bar, and he slammed open the door with a swagger he usually reserved for walking back to the ship after a good fuck. Rat could see how he’d been wrong about the approach he’d taken in the bar before: with that cute of an ass, Lucio deserved to wooed and charmed. And during their drunken fun, he’d managed to impart on the boy that he and Hog were only business partners, never mind what he might have otherwise thought.

“Oi, Hog. Hog. Roadhog.”

The giant of a man was curled into a ball on their shared mattress, his back tucked against the wall and face turned down into the pillow. He’d kept the mask on, which seemed incredibly uncomfortable, but his tone of voice had allowed for no further questions when Jamie asked him about it. Didn’t mean the pirate had stopped asking, of course, but the merman had largely ignored him.

Now, intoxicated on both his first bit of alcohol in a while and a cute giggle that rang in his ears, it seemed like a really good time to finish their earlier conversation and start a new one. Mainly, he wanted the big lug to remember to prod him to go out and pick flowers for Lucio, or something. People liked getting flowers and he knew he wasn’t going to be remembering any of this in a few hours.  
When his words did nothing to stir Hog, he crept closer, tilting his head so he could peer into the empty glass lenses of the shark’s head. On closer inspection, he new partner’s skin was littered with scars that crisscrossed and intersected with the tattoo designs. A few of the tattoos even looked like they’d been made to highlight some of the worst of the scars, circling around the puckered skin as if to draw the eye. Experimentally, Junkrat reached out to prod at the skin on Roadhog’s arm, feeling the thick layer of corded muscles just underneath. It felt like a normal person’s skin; he’d half expected it to be rubbery and fake, like more sharkskin stretched over Hog’s frame to hide what he was. 

He reached out to trace his fingers over the shark mask when there was still no sign of movement from the merman. The stitches that held it closed and in shape were smooth and evenly set, made by someone who knew what they were doing when they’d crafted it. A few locks of silver hair had fallen over the mouth of the mask and Rat inspected them with suspicion, wondering if the merman’s hair was naturally that color, or if he was traveling with a bastard old enough to be his grandfather. The teeth of the mask were sharp, sharp enough to draw a small point of blood on his finger when he pressed down on one of them. Jamie swore and drew away from the bed to pop the finger in his mouth and suck on it, scowling at the mask’s teeth as though they were personally responsible for the injury.

A long tongue slipped out from the depths of the mask and licked at the spot of blood, the same instant Hog’s arm shot out to grab Jamie and pull him close. The man growled but the sound was half-choked with sleep, and the grip on his wrist, while still unbreakable, was nearly as close to breaking his bones as the merman could have made it.

Roadhog sniffed the air and Rat squeaked as he was hauled in front of the mask, staring into the dark shadows that his partner hid in. This close, he could make out swirls- tattoos that continued even to decorate the merman’s face, and a mouth that seemed twisted into a snarl. The grip on his arm shifted to grab his hand and bring it closer to the other’s face, and the creature turned his head to take a deep inhale of the pirate’s wounded finger. It wasn’t even bleeding anymore but that didn’t seem to matter, as that tongue again appeared to lap at the wound. He heard a huff of disappointment when Hog realized the flow of blood had stopped.

So quickly it almost blurred, the shark’s mask twitched and the razor sharp point of another tooth buried itself into the meat of his finger. Jamie yelped and began to try and scramble back from the bed again, fruitlessly tugging at the iron grip on his wrist. Hog held him firm and lapped at the wound as if he had all the time in the world, pausing only when both Rat’s finger and the teeth of the shark’s mask were shining red. 

Lazily, the creature rolled over in bed, stretching out on the mattress once he released the pirate’s hand. Junkrat pressed his back against the wall of the hotel room, sputtering indignantly as he looked between his finger and the shark. The wound was incredibly minor- it had only bled so much because of Roadhog squeezing it so tightly, treating him like a human juicer.

“Let me sleep.” Hog grunted to him before he shoved his head back into the pillow, apparently attempting to block out all signs of Junkrat’s presence.

That was not going to happen.

“You bit me!” Jamie yelled at the top of lungs, enraged at the merman’s dismissal. A pillow flew through the air, colliding with his head and bringing the pirate crashing down to the floor. His peg leg scrambled for purchase on the old wood as he tried to right himself, prepared to launch the pillow right back at Roadhog as soon as he stood up.

“Sleep.” The creature grumbled again, and tilted its head away from him.

He felt like the merman had cheated him somehow. Robbed him of those few drops of blood. Jamie owned few things in life, fewer than most people; most had their whole bodies, their whole array of limbs. He had less. He’d always had less, and giving up anything was an arduous, agonizing blow. This bastard wasn’t going to steal from him.

Foregoing the pillow, Rat launched himself at the bed and landed hard on Hog’s back, knee and metal peg leg digging into his shoulders. The huge man underneath him shifted in surprise, turning to throw him off the side of the mattress, but Junkrat held fast, locking his arms around the monster’s shoulders. There was a grunt of frustration before huge hands came up to pull at his shirt, struggling to find a good grip on the pirate’s boney frame.

“Fuck off with tha’ sleep shit! You bit me!”

“Did not.” Came the quick retort, and Jamie risked taking one of his hands off the monster’s back to shove his wounded finger in front of the mask.

“Whatd’ya call this then? A fuckin’ hickey? That how it works under the sea?”

Roadhog growled low in his throat and every hair on Junkrat’s body stood on end, a familiar fear worming it’s way into his gut. Before he could act on his instincts to get away, hide, fight, something, the creature was turning beneath him. Huge weight threw him off balance as Hog tossed himself, rotating beneath the scrawny human so he could face up. Rat hung on for dear life with one hand, the other frantically dipping into the one boot he wore. There’d been an opportunity to snatch up some tableware when Lucio wasn’t looking, and he came up with a dingy silver fork to press against Hog’s throat.

The bigger man froze when he felt the cool metal against his skin, and Junkrat straightened himself as he straddled the other, wishing he’d managed to find a table knife instead. Within the mask, dark eyes watched him carefully for any sign of his next move, the merman seemingly content for the moment to wait for the pirate’s decision about what to do. Jamie ran through his thoughts, mumbling words aloud until they all ran together, individual threads twisting themselves in his mind and his throat. He had the merman beneath him, had the upper hand for once- but all he was holding was a fork, and as soon as Hog realized that, he’d finish what he’d started.

“You don’t hurt me, okay? If we’re gonna be fuckin’ stuck together, you don’t fuckin’ touch me unless I say so. That blood was mine! You got no right ta take it!”

“You shoved your bloody finger in my mask while I slept.” Roadhog spoke slowly and clearly, throat flexing against the silverware. Rat’s hand shook and instead of the side of the fork he’d been using, the four points dug into the merman’s skin. 

All was still and quiet as the creature realized the pirate was holding a fork against his throat, instead of a blade. 

Rat cleared his throat and spoke, scrambling for the upper hand once again. His eyes were wide, pupils blown huge and heart beating frantically inside his chest. It was like taming a wild animal- he had to assert himself, had to make it clear that he was the one in charge. Hog was terrifying, huge and large and deadly. There was something thrilling about sitting astride his wide belly, pinning him to the bed with nothing but a tiny piece of silverware.

While he was stuck with this creature, it would not attack him.

“Hurt me again and I’ll have this fork stuck in yer belly faster than ya can smell my blood.” The words were hissed between clenched teeth and he dug the points in further to punctuate his statement, drawing four tiny pinpricks of blood on the merman’s skin. 

Hog could have moved fairly easily. The pirate weighed almost less than nothing, and a dull fork wasn’t enough to penetrate his thick hide more than a centimeter or two. But he remained motionless underneath Junkrat, locking him into a staring match that felt like it lasted years. Roadhog’s eyes were flat black, unreflective and expressionless. 

If Jamie blinked first, he would lose.

Eventually Roadhog huffed, pulled back from the fork at his throat, shifted.   
“Fine. I won’t hurt you.” He mimicked Rat’s words with an air of finality, his deep voice add more power to the words than the pirate’s thin one had. Jamie blinked at his apparent success, slowly lowering the fork to his side as Hog continued not to attack him. 

“…Good. Yer damn right you won’t.”

Hog suddenly grinned, showing every single one of his teeth beneath the mask. “Until I eat you.”

…Not ideal. But probably the best he was going to get at that point, and the small victory was really enough for him. He’d never really had someone listen to him before, never had a taste of really being in charge. Junkrat wanted more of it, wanted more of what it felt like when people took him seriously. Treated him like the threat he was.

Before he could think of a clever retort, Roadhog finally moved to dump him off the side of the bed, leaning far over to the side to let Rat slide off his belly. He squawked as he dropped, landing hard on the floor. 

Less afraid of his partner than he had been before, Junkrat popped back up to the mattress almost immediately and forced his way back into the creature’s space. The larger man groaned as he finally realized he wasn’t going to get to go back to sleep, with the pirate wiggling his way onto the mattress to make himself comfortable.

“Now that we got that squared away, I got great news! We don’t have to build a boat or buy one or nothin’! Lucio’s got one! S’small and shit, made so people don’t notice it, but I figure if we mount a few cannons on it, set up a nice flag, no one’ll be able to ignore us. We can pillage our way across the sea on it, get ourselves filthy rich ‘afore we even make it where we’re going!”

Golden coins and jewels danced across his eyes.

“Lucio’s a great guy, got the best smile. Ya gotta remind me ta get him some flowers ‘fore we set sail again. Ass that nice deserves some flowers and sweet talk.” He giggled at the mental image of him lying on top of Lucio, kneading those lovely cheeks in his hands as he whispered compliments and flattery into the crease of his ass.

It was a real pity that they couldn’t take the guy with them when they left. Hearing him talk about his ship, he was real proud of the way he maintained it; lovingly tended to the decks and sails, cleaned the wood and made sure the sails and machinery stayed functional and oiled. The Auditiva was brand new, a purchase he’d made on his own after years of saving. The family boat was older, falling apart; but this was his baby. It almost felt wrong, taking the thing from him after listening to him prattle on about it all night.  
Rat had better things to worry about though and he banished the thought to the far corners of his brain. It wasn’t like he could afford to let a pretty face and a dashing smile make him lose his head. Lucio would be a distant memory by the time this was all over- by the time he held treasure in his hands and held his head up high underneath the sun. 

Somewhere along the way he was going to have to figure out how to ditch the merman, but for now that seemed to be going okay. At least they’d come to some sort of understanding, no matter how feeble. The bigger man, seemingly accepting the fact he wasn’t going back to bed, had shaken the blankets off and was padding quietly around the room. His hair fell down to his waist, covering most of the tattoo designs on his back, but Rat could pick out something that looked like a hook and a long chain beneath the strands. He wondered about the art of tattooing underwater, if it went the same way as it did on land or if the ink got too diluted beneath the waves. His own tattoo, the mark of his old ship on his right bicep, itched vaguely.

Jamie was going to have to get that covered up soon- nevermind that tattoos were solely a pirate’s mark, he wasn’t even part of that crew anymore. Maybe he’d wait until he had his own ship and symbol.

Hog’s tattoos must have been terrifying to the common populace, he realized with a start. The merman was absolutely covered, from his head to the soles of his feet. Anyone looking at him would think he’d served on hundreds of ships and outlived the captain and crew of every single one of them. Add that to the fact that he was practically a giant walking among them, and there was good reason for people getting out of their way on the road.

It was a bloody wonder they hadn’t been arrested as they walked through the streets yesterday. The sooner they got off land, the sooner Rat wouldn’t have to worry about hiding the great behemoth or his marks. Then he could worry about how to lose the guy. 

Roadhog lifted his mask slightly so he could dab at the skin underneath with a damp cloth and Rat eyed him as he waited for him to finish his morning routine, trying to no avail to catch a clear glimpse of what lay underneath. 

That, at least, was a mystery that was going to have to be solved before they parted ways. Curiosity was already eating him up inside.

“We should spend a few days here, grab some supplies and shit… Stock up on some food, find a map… Then we sneak out to the docks and swipe the boat! Gone before the sun comes up with no one the wiser!”

He just hoped the boat wasn’t too small to hold Roadhog.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and the boys have some fun. Sorry nothing really happens in this chapter, I just wanted to get this scene out of my head.

There’s precious little to do aboard the stolen ship, with the wind stagnant and the water wide and glassy. It’s the calmest ocean he’s ever seen, with no noticeable waves or foam on the sea.

It would freak him out, if he were alone out here. The little sailing vessel had three decks, one for storage, one for living, and the top deck where all the rigging and sails had to be carefully tended to. Junkrat was pretty much the perfect size and shape for shimmying into the rigging like a monkey, tightening and loosening knots that needed to be shifted, then scrambling back down to grab ahold of the till and direct the small ship. A lifetime aboard a ship left him with nimble fingers and a supernatural ability with knots and rope. He was almost as good with them as he was with gunpowder and bits of metal.

Deep in the belly of the smuggler’s ship, they’d stocked up on things Rat would need before they sailed. Casks of fresh water and beer lined one side of the ship, counterbalanced by crates of flour, dried meats, and the freshest fruits they could steal. It was hard, sneaking around unseen at the docks at night, with a man the size of a mountain following his every footstep. But it was worth the trouble of sneaking Hog into the bellies of the ships, just to see him carry out barrel after barrel of supplies over his broad shoulders. It wasn’t as fresh as he’d have liked- they usually only brought the fresh meat and vegetables onboard right before the ships cast off, and clearly none of the vessels in port had been planning on leaving anytime soon.

At least three months worth of food tucked away in the ship, all for Jamie’s enjoyment. Roadhog hadn’t needed anything, said so when his partner asked if they needed to steal food for two or just one. 

He hadn’t said anything, really- just grunted and shook his head, but that was enough.

Among the supplies pilfered from larger, better-equipped ships, there were three casks of gunpowder. Just thinking about them gave him butterflies in his stomach, imagining what he could do with all that explosive power and enough time on his hands. 

While the wind didn’t blow, and there was nothing to do but hang out the sail and hope a breeze would catch him, Junkrat was fiddling with bits of metal and tubing, seeing what he could create. Roadhog was nowhere to be found, but the pirate didn’t have much hope that the big lug had fucked off for good. The ship was way too small for the both of them- sure, they’d both fit, but in much closer quarters than the merman seemed comfortable with. Jamie was used to sharing every waking moment with someone’s elbow or BO, but the big guy seemed to value his space. He was in the water, last the blonde had seen him, making a triumphant return to his home under the waves.

Or, the disconcertingly calm mirror the water had turned into.

If Junkrat hadn’t stocked up so well, he’d have been worried about the lack of wind this far out. They’d been traveling for a few days, trying to put as much distance between Tern’s Roost and them as they could so there was no chance of Lucio coming after them to reclaim his boat. It was such an unfortunate situation, having to run from the prettiest pair of eyes he’d seen in years. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to see them closed in pleasure, screwed up as he made their owner squeal and moan.

It was Lucio’s pretty face he was thinking about now, as he worked on a cylindrical metal casing. Junkrat fell hard and often, getting over his feelings fast but completely caught up during the moment. The first time he’d let himself get sappy on someone, he’d nearly abandoned his ship and crew just to stay behind in the port with them. He’d had the most beautiful black hair that reflected the sun in shades of blue, with lips that Rat wanted to stay pressed against forever.

But there was always someone like that, at every port he went to. A nice face to be a distraction for a while, before he shipped out again and was left to his hands and a rag stuffed in his mouth to stifle the noise. (More as a courtesy to his bunkmates than anything else. The blonde didn’t know how to be quiet.)

There was a splash from somewhere off the bow and a few small waves shook the peace that had settled over the ocean. Jamie let the pieces fall out of his hands as he looked over towards it, squinting against the bright light of the sun. There’d been a spare stretch of canvas that he’d hung over part of the deck to give himself some shade as he worked outside, but even with that small barrier, he could feel himself roasting. There wasn’t any ash around he could smear himself with to prevent burning, so he’d have to make some soon.

“That you, Hoggie?” He called over his shoulder, already climbing to his feet to stumble over to the railing. It was mostly rhetorical. Below him, a huge dark shape moved in the blue water- it clear enough to make out a few details, the hook in Hog’s hand, the long waving silver hair. After a minute the mask broke the surface, the glass lenses of Roadhog’s mask glinting in the sunlight. Jamie leaned over the railing, inspecting what he could see of the creature’s tail. 

As soon as the other had hit the water, he’d transformed. It had been a fascinating process that was over in a few seconds, meaning Rat couldn’t catch much more than a slight glimpse of legs melting together. He was curious to know more.

“Storm coming.” Roadhog growled up at him, barely audible from the water’s surface. Jamie stretched his long body out over the waves to hear him, squinting as the sun glinted off the ocean.

“No shit,” He replied, shouting down to his partner. It wasn’t his first time on the water- the only time it ever got this calm was before a huge storm. 

“Can’t outrun it.” The blonde pirate shrugged, curling himself over the carved, polished wood. There was a small amount of blood caught in the shark mask’s teeth, not yet washed away by the ocean tides, evidence that the creature had gone out and caught himself a fresh meal under the waves. Jamie’s stomach growled despite the meal he’d had only an hour before.

“Might as well sit an’ ride it out. Can ya catch me somethin’ fresh down there?”

“No.”

Hog sank beneath the water, again becoming a dark blob that rapidly faded from view. Jamie frowned, unhappy with his answer and with the loss of a conversation partner. He was going to go crazy on this ship, if Roadhog kept popping up ever few hours for a mostly one-sided conversation and then disappearing again into the depths. 

The metal casing he’d been working on sat mockingly on the deck, half-finished and empty, but Rat didn’t feel like working on it anymore. He was trying to come up with ways to help their little ship rival ones far larger- ways that didn’t involve huge, explosive canons that the Auditiva simply had no room for in her hull. The casing he was working on had a winding mechanism on it that, in theory, could be set to wind itself and then thrown onto the deck of an enemy ship. Once it had finished winding, any little bit of movement or disturbance would be enough to set it off- even the simple act of picking it up, or running by it on the way to battle stations. 

It was ingenious, and uninteresting to him at the moment.

Impulsively, Jamie sat down on the deck of the ship and began to unstrap his peg leg.

“Hog! Hoggie!” He yelled out, hoping to catch the creature before it was too deep to hear him. After a minute’s silence, there was another faint splash, and he grinned to himself before wiggling his way back towards the railing. Roadhog’s mask was barely poking above the surface, exasperation practically visible in the air around him. 

“Catch!” The pirate called out, and shimmied his way on the railing, putting years of climbing rigging into practice. Before the shark below him could react, Rat had thrown himself off the side of the Auditiva and dropped into the ocean like a stone.

The last time he’d dropped into water, it had been with a certainty that he’d never surface again and a peg leg so heavy that he’d had no chance of kicking his way back to the surface. This time, though, he knew he’d resurface one way or another. In the calm before the storm, there was nothing to do- and maybe he could get the creature to carry him around the waves for a while, or show him how to swim without having to rely on a mythical beast. At the very least he could cool off.

Perhaps he was putting too much trust in Roadhog for their partnership, but if there was one thing Jamie thought he could count on, it was greed. Merman or human, people were greedy, selfish, and striving. There was no way it’d let him die without completing their journey to the so-called ‘treasure’ at the end.

A large hand wrapped around his middle, squeezing just a bit too tightly for Rat’s liking, and forced him up towards the surface. Hog kept his grip on him as the human took a few breaths of fresh air, opening his eyes to the stinging of salt water and a shark mask that stared at him judgmentally.

“What are you doing?” The merman asked, giving the human a small shake as if to emphasize his annoyance, and Rat giggled, clinging to the creature with all his strength.

“Show me how to swim, mate! Not gonna get a better chance than this with the water all still.” One hand swept in a circle around them for emphasis, although their movement was unsettling the once glassy water.

Hog snorted and shook his head.

“How about I just throw you back on the damn boat?” 

He shifted his grip in preparation to do just that, swimming a few feet back from the side of the ship to get a good angle. Rat squeaked in alarm, curling his entire body around Roadhog’s fist.

“C’monnnnnn,” The smaller man whined, purposefully making his voice as nasally and annoying as possible. “What if ya ain’t there to pull me outta the water?”

“Don’t care.” Came the reply, and the merman began to try and peel the smaller human off him, wiggling the fingers of his other hand in between Rat’s body and his closed fist. The pirate laughed at the sensation, hollowing his stomach to let the hand slip past him and then quickly clambering up the creature’s arm to dangle from his shoulders. Hog huffed in frustration, reaching around with both hands to grab at Jamie’s shirt, but he was expecting the move and ducked beneath the water’s surface easily, sliding down until his hands were clasped around the dorsal fin on Roadhog’s back.

“Get off me!” Hog huffed in annoyance, flexing his tail to try and dislodge the man’s grip on him. It was significantly harder to hold on to the fin, the skin rubbery and slick beneath Rat’s fingers, and he scrabbled for purchase as the muscles of the shark’s tail rolled under him. His good leg hooked around the tail in a futile effort to stop it’s movement, the stump of his bad leg clamped around on the other side of the shark and squeezing with all it’s might. 

He couldn’t exactly breathe here, below the surface of the ocean, but Rat had already proven once that the shark wasn’t about to let him die so easily, and so the burning in his lungs didn’t concern him as much as just trying to win the wrestling match. The rough skin of the tail beneath his hands felt like sandpaper, unyielding and difficult to hold on to, especially as Roadhog began to buck and turn, trying with all his might to shake the young man off him. 

The big creature curled in on itself, folding over it’s huge belly in an attempt to reach him, but Rat was already sliding away, dropping further down the tail and out of the shark’s reach. He was starting to run out of air though, lungs burning after what felt like a full minute underwater, and the sting of the salt in his eyes was almost blinding. 

There was a roar of annoyance from the shark above him, and suddenly they were moving through the water faster than Junkrat had ever gone before. The tail whipped around and his neck snapped back as Roadhog began to swim in a circle, moving quicker and quicker. The water whipped into white foam and Jamie’s head spun with the revolutions, the dark shape of the boat sliding past his eyes faster than he could focus them. Hog dived down, pushing his tail up into the air, and the pirate was suddenly thrust back towards the sky.

He took huge, grateful lungfuls of air, although he would never admit it to the creature’s face. 

Beneath his skinny body, Roadhog’s muscles tensed and the tail lowered back under the surface before, rapidly, it snapped up. Rat lost his grip at the rapid movement and went flying over the waves, momentarily soaring high above the sky with the force of the shark’s throw. The salt made his vision too blurry to see much but clouds sliding past, and his stomach felt like he’d left it behind, still clinging to Roadhog’s tail under the water.

But he laughed. He laughed and laughed as he landed in the water, hands grasping at nothing but the air above him and the ocean below. He laughed until he choked, water painfully running up his nose as he tried to take a breath under water. Jamie was still giggling when Roadhog swam over to pull him up to the surface again, holding him by the scruff of the neck at arm’s length so he didn’t get any ideas about clinging to him again.

When he’d coughed all the water out of his lungs for the third time in a week, successfully ignoring the burn that the salt left behind, he put on his most pleading face.

“Do that again!” He yelled, trying and failing to bounce excitedly as he was held aloft. Nothing could be seen of Hog’s expression, but the mask tilted to one side as if in confusion. The sunlight glinted off the mask’s lenses, turning them into bright, blank circles of light.

“No,” The merman said, tone of voice implying that Junkrat was crazy. 

“C’mon, do it! Throw me!” He tried to twist around to wrap over Hog’s fist again, this time to make himself into a neat little ball that the merman could toss. 

“Get back on the boat.” Roadhog huffed, turning in the water to begin towing Jamie back towards the Auditiva. There were better things to do with the time than throw the excitable man around. The storm coming would be massive, if it could make the waters still for this long. Rat probably had to do things on the ship to prepare for it, tie down the loose stuff and try to waterproof his things as much as he could. The merman had never been on a ship, but he’d seen the things human crews did when they thought they were in danger. Then, there’d been men racing around as fast as their legs could carry them and voices shouting above all the chaos, orders and calls for assistance.

At the very least Junkrat was shouting, the merman supposed. His ears, used to the calm, distant roar of waves over his head, didn’t much appreciate the human’s shrill tones. He didn’t think the man ever shut up, except to take a breath or sleep. He’d find it remarkable if he wasn’t stuck with the human for the foreseeable future, trapped listening to his demands to be tossed around like a child.

There was only so much he could take before the merman simply got tired. And he was quickly learning that this skinny twig of a human knew every button of his to push.

Mid-plea, Roadhog’s arm drew back and Rat found himself being whipped through the air yet again. He didn’t go as high as he had when using the shark’s tail as a springboard, but this time he tried to focus on the clouds that went sailing by, reveling in the sensation of nothing underneath him. He’d have to find a way to recreate this on his own, without a doubt- he wanted to fly whenever he felt like it, feel the wind whip past his face and be weightless for a moment.

He supposed that was one good thing about meeting the merman- he’d never met anyone who could make him feel like he weighed absolutely nothing before.

Hog pulled him out of the water once more, not even giving Jamie time to inhale a mouthful of seaweed and salt. He cheered once his head broke the surface, grin that stretched across his face genuine and real. 

In the air, his head didn’t present a million different things for him to think about at once. He could actually just focus on the present, on the shards of wind that cut at his face and chilled his skin. Jamie almost felt bad for Roadhog; there was no way that huge body would ever be able to get up in the air.

“Again!” He called, and the merman didn’t do more but offer up a sigh before he launched the pirate into the air again. It was a sight to see, gangly limbs spreading wide and pointed face turned up to the sun with a huge grin spread across his lips. The stub of his right leg flailed in the open air, trying to kick at nothing with what was no longer there, even as his other foot hung limply in the breeze’s grasp.

They only stopped when the wind was howling and the sun no longer reflected off Hog’s mask, the once crystal blue water a dark grey under the gathering storm clouds. Beneath the surface, Roadhog could feel the current picking up, pulling and plucking at his tail to try and drag him down. It was no effort to toss the pirate around, slight as he was, but usually he’d have ducked down to the bottom of the ocean floor by this time, away from the strong currents that took real strength to fight against. It was time for this game to end, no matter how many times the human pleaded with him.

But Rat also noticed the changing weather around him and reacted, the laughter slowly fading as he realized the first few water droplets of the storm had already fallen. He needed to get back on the Auditiva before the waves got too bad- Hog hadn’t shown him how to swim, after all, and even if he held the key to some treasure, he was pretty sure the merman would save himself first before sticking his neck out for the pirate.

There was a problem that he hadn’t anticipated though. Somehow on the same page without either of them voicing their concerns, Hog had swam him over to the side of the ship and was holding onto his torso, impatiently waiting for the human to climb up the side and get back on deck. 

The ship had been built for stealth, designed to slip past far larger vessels with the smallest amount of effort. To that end, the sides of the boat were as smooth as was possible, sanded down to minimize the amount of wake and splashing she’d do as she moved. There were barely any handholds for the prate to climb up, his fingers settling into the groove of one board but finding themselves without anywhere else to go. The deck was still a few stories up, impossible to climb without handholds, never mind his missing leg.

Roadhog huffed in annoyance once he realized what the problem was, watching Junkrat scramble to get anything close to a solid grip on the ship. Beneath his mask, he pursed his lips as his eyes refocused on the dark clouds in the sky. They needed to move.

The idea occurred to him around the same time it did for Rat, and it was Hog’s turn to grin as he swam a few lengths away from the ship with his new partner. Jamie babbled nervously about hitting the side of the deck, and the merman thought for a moment before he pulled his tail up to the water’s surface and let the human grip on again.

This was going to be fun.


End file.
